Robotics and automated systems in construction: Understanding industry-specific challenges for adoption

© 2019 The Authors The construction industry is a major economic sector, but it is plagued with inefficiencies and low productivity. Robotics and automated systems have the potential to address these shortcomings; however, the level of adoption in the construction industry is very low. This paper presents an investigation into the industry-specific factors that limit the adoption in the construction industry. A mixed research method was employed combining literature review, qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. Three focus groups with 28 experts and an online questionnaire were conducted. Principal component and correlation analyses were conducted to group the identified factors and find hidden correlations. The main identified challenges were grouped into four categories and ranked in order of importance: contractor-side economic factors, client-side economic factors, technical and work-culture factors, and weak business case factors. No strong correlation was found among factors. This study will help stakeholders to understand the main industry-specific factors limiting the adoption of robotics and automated systems in the construction industry. The presented findings will support stakeholders to devise mitigation strategies

Robotization and digitalisation in the construction industry

Abstract. Industry 4.0 has emerged as a famous concept in the last few years to describe the significance of digitisation and robotization in the smart manufacturing environment. The advancements in robotics, digital software, and smart technologies have allowed a new wave in the construction industry. The construction industry is the major economic pillar and provides a significant impact on the overall GDP of the country. Despite the predominant pillar, it is considered as the poor innovator and late adopter of new technologies, which ends up with delays and cost overruns in their construction projects. Considering this aspect, the research emphasises the importance of adopting the latest technologies in the construction industry in order to enhance the productivity and efficiency of various processes. This study seeks to examine existing robotization and digitalisation practices in the leading construction companies and intends to provide the required improvement ideas in this research domain. The empirical results revealed that the majority of the case companies lack basis to implement the latest technologies in their construction activities. They believe that effective use of the available technologies is an asset, but it is a long process to be achieved. Thus, the thesis is concluded by providing the critical information regarding the adoption of latest technologies and proposes a framework that can help to enhance the robotization and digitisation practices to improve the performance of the construction activities. The mentioned framework mainly focusses on elements that this research found as a potential need for companies to implement. This framework has a future scope for validation and also key elements of the framework can be utilised for further research