Balancing human-and-robot integration in building tasks

In the last two decades, a wide range of robotic systems for interior construction tasks was being examined (mainly by research and development institutions around the world). A main parameter that differentiates between these systems is their level of autonomy. Reducing the level of autonomy of a given robotic system necessitates increasing auxiliary human work. The efficiency of the system as a whole (i.e., robot/s + operator/s + worker/s) must be examined in order to determine the proper balance between robots and human beings. This article presents the development of a methodology for evaluating a robotized construction task by examining and comparing various ways to share the work between robots and human operators and workers. The methodology is demonstrated by implementing it on two interior finishing tasks-block laying and wall painting. Testing these tasks included full-scale experiments. The detailed analyses of these two applications show the breakeven points of profitable robotic systems, depending on the combination of their own cost, the hourly cost of construction workers, and the expected hourly cost of construction-robot operators in a given labor market. The results lead to a better understanding of possible human-and-robot integration. In particular, this article provides researchers and developers of construction robotics with a systematic approach for evaluation and validation of various ideas prior to investing resources in actual prototypes.