Process framework for transferring BIM data to robot operations in construction
Open Access
- Author:
- Badre, Aurore
- Graduate Program:
- Architectural Engineering
- Degree:
- Master of Science
- Document Type:
- Master Thesis
- Date of Defense:
- March 23, 2020
- Committee Members:
- John Isaac Messner, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Rob Leicht, Thesis Advisor/Co-Advisor
Alan Richard Wagner, Committee Member
Sez Atamturktur, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- BIM
robot
construction
process map - Abstract:
- The use of robots in construction can improve productivity and decrease fatalities on a construction jobsite. A main challenge with the implementation is the efficient planning of digital information from the digital facility design to automated robotic systems. Each project is different, each construction site has unique characteristics, and each project design is also unique. Project teams are adopting Building Information Modeling (BIM) to help with coordination of construction project team members and enable digital workflows. Much of the information needed for the design and construction work tasks can be represented in BIM, however there are limited digital workflows focused on transitioning information from BIM to robotic control systems. Therefore, this research is focused on how design and construction information including work task data can be transmitted and translated from BIM to a robotic control system along with identifying addition data management tasks that can be automated within the workflow. This research outlines the detailed workflow between BIM and robotic control systems through a process framework. It explores an automated process translating design information from BIM to a robotic construction activity. The process was developed by identifying the sequence of tasks required for such a system, the different parties involved in current workflows, and the information needed to complete the tasks. To develop the process, exploratory interviews were performed in addition to literature review to develop initial drafts of the process. Then, the process was continually refined through additional exploration and verified through interviews on two case studies focused on specific construction tasks. The resulting process in represented in a process map containing three swim lanes: 1) external intervention, 2) the robot, and 3) the controller of the robot related to the construction task. It identifies the main steps from the design development, the identification of the data required from the design, the extraction of these data, the implementation in the controller, the planning of the robot’s tasks, and the performance of the automated construction work. This process can be used to guide the planning to use a construction robot on a construction site or in the development of offsite construction assemblies.