Robotic Industrialization : Automation and Robotic Technologies for Customized Component, Module, and Building Prefabrication

The Cambridge Handbooks on Construction Robotics series focuses on the implementation of automation and robot technology to renew the construction industry. This volume outlines technologies in building component manufacturing based on building materials and large-scale prefabrication holding the potential to deliver complex components and products which are introduced and discussed.

In this volume, concepts, technologies and developments in the field of building-component manufacturing - based on concrete, brick, wood and steel as building materials and on large-scale prefabrication, delivering complex, customized components and products - are introduced and discussed. Robotic industrialization refers to the transformation of parts and low-level components into higher-level components, modules and finally building systems by highly mechanized, automated, or robot-supported industrial settings in structured off-site environments. Components and modules are open building systems (in modular building product structures) that are delivered by suppliers to original equipment manufacturers such as, for example, large-scale prefabrication companies or automated/robotic on-site factories. In particular, innovative large-scale prefabrication companies have altered the building structures, manufacturing processes, and organizational structures significantly to be able to assemble in their factories high-level components and modules from Tier-1 suppliers into customized buildings by heavily utilizing robotic technology in combination with automated logistics and production lines.