This cybernetics engineer is laying the groundwork for robust automated systems that will help us construct our future spaces. Her spider-crane robots are already showing how it’s done.

Dr. Anja Lauer is on a mission to help the construction industry build better. As the founder of the Department of Construction Robotics at the University of Stuttgart in Germany, she juggles her role as a researcher, professor, and leader of her department, while at the same time creating robots that can assemble building components in construction sites.

“Current approaches to automated building do not use the full potential of construction robotics,” says Lauer, who has a doctorate degree in engineering and a masters in cybernetics. That’s why her long-term vision for her department is to design robust robotic construction systems consisting of robots and end-effectors [arm grippers, tools, or sensors attached to robotic arms], building elements and their connections, as well as automated construction processes. 

“These are the main components which have to be considered together to create an efficient and impactful way of constructing,” she adds.

For example, Lauer was responsible for the automated on-site assembly of the livMatS Biomimetic Shell building, a 345-square-meter lightweight timber structure in a project carried out in collaboration with her university and the University of Freiburg. 

As part of the project’s aim to achieve sustainable architecture via integrative approach to design and construction, Lauer led the development of two robotic spider-crane manipulators with end-effectors that automatically assembled the livMatS building’s wooden parts called cassettes on its actual site. To be able to do that, each robot had a specific task: one picked and placed a cassette into its corresponding position, while the other screwed the assembled cassettes together. Each cassette weighed about 100 kilograms (220 pounds).

For that project, Lauer had the chance to work on a large variety of topics in robotics, starting from “equipping the large-scale manipulators with hardware such as sensors, and participating in the development of a screwing end-effector, to writing the whole program that runs on the manipulator including communication, logic, signal processing, modeling, state estimation, path planning, trajectory generation, and feedback controllers,” she says.

Lauer and her team also used geospatial tools to accomplish their work. Geodetic engineers from the University of Stuttgart’s Institute of Engineering Geodesy (IIGS) developed a robot total station network to endow precise positioning.

“The idea was to use the robotic total stations as the main sensors for positioning as they provide real-time measurements with an accuracy of three millimeters throughout our large workspace,” says Lauer. The total station together with the Building Information Model (BIM) of the structure were then employed to ensure collision-free path planning during the automated assembly of the components. 

“Having a digital twin of the construction site and of the planned construction process is really beneficial for automation,” she says. “That’s because robots need to know which tasks to execute in which order, including the position information. Ideally, this data can be extracted from a BIM model.”

The livMatS timber building now stands at the Freiburg University campus, and it is impressive to know that robots helped build it. Yet despite the technical progress in the science of robotics as demonstrated by the livMatS project, the construction sector at large still seems to be slow in adopting digitization and automation. “Construction has the lowest degree of digitization compared to other sectors,” says Lauer. 

There are many factors behind this holdup, but mostly because the industry is fragmented.

“The construction sector is made up of many small, medium-sized, and large companies, while at the same time countries have different construction norms, standards, requirements, and needs,” she says. “There is almost no standardization.”

Lauer also adds that it is quite difficult to automate each and every piece of construction work because building elements have different materials, shapes, sizes, weights, and connections.

“Unlike a series production that is common in the automotive sector, there are fewer repeatable tasks in construction. Therefore, at the moment, a customized and automated solution for every building task would be rather cumbersome and expensive.”

And cost is an important issue for a sector that has traditionally low profit margins. Aside from that, productivity in the construction sector has languished in recent years due to labor shortages, while at the same time its environmental footprint continues to increase worldwide.

It is quite difficult to change prevailing business models and create new opportunities in the sector when it is sluggish to apply new digital technologies. 

Lauer, however, is undaunted by these setbacks and is betting on automation to help shore the industry up. Growing up, she was inspired to study engineering cybernetics by her great-uncle who was also a professor. Then a master’s project with mobile robots for a scrapyard in Japan made her even more interested in the automation of large-scale manipulators doing construction tasks.

“Robots could make the construction of novel environmentally friendly buildings economically feasible,” says Lauer. “By making improvements in digitization and automation, we can have a big impact globally.”

(This interview with Lauer has been edited and condensed.) 

In a nutshell, how were robots used in the livMatS Biomimetic Shell building project? 

There are 127 hollow cassettes that form the shell of the livMatS building, and all of them have individual shapes, sizes, and forms. Since they fit together like a puzzle, first they must be fabricated with very low tolerances. My colleagues achieved this using pre-fabrication robots. These pre-fabrication robots were installed inside a laboratory hall where they sawed the parts, placed the components together, and glued them. After that, on-site assembly robots worked in the construction site. They were designed to be suited for the large exterior workspace and higher payloads and have end-effectors which were used to place and connect the pre-fabricated components. [Search ivMatS Biomimetic Shell on YouTube to see the robots at work.] 

The use of robots has been predicted to modernize the construction industry. What do you think are the main advantages of integrating robots in construction projects? 

First would be on productivity and efficiency. Automation allows us to optimize the execution of construction tasks, for example in terms of time or energy. As robots can work 24/7, construction time can be reduced. Also, one human operator can supervise several robots simultaneously, which can increase productivity as opposed to each construction machine being operated by one individual operator.

Second is quality. Robots are very good at executing repetitive tasks with high accuracy. If for example, screws have to be inserted at specific angles at specific positions, it is very difficult for human workers to achieve the exact angles. A robot and its end-effector on the other hand, can be programmed to achieve tasks with high quality. And third is better working conditions. Robots can make the construction site a more attractive place to work by reducing the physical strain on workers. Robots can also take over hard work such as moving heavy objects. Moreover, we can use teleoperation to move the workplace to a less noisy, polluted, and weather-dependent space.

Are there limitations of using robots in construction sites?

Construction robot technology is currently still at a very early stage. There are only very specific solutions available to industry, e.g., for 3D printing or laying bricks. But there are no ready-made solutions for all building systems, which were originally developed for manual or human-controlled construction. This is why I also want to adapt the building systems to robotic needs, so they can be used more broadly.

Many people are afraid that robots will replace actual workers in construction projects. How can people and robots collaborate in construction projects?

We should use the human intelligence of understanding the situation and creatively solve problems. Humans should be in charge of the robots. We should use robots for automating tedious tasks, such as repetitive tasks like screwing or moving heavy objects or working in extreme environments.

In our project for example, my colleagues from Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems have developed a haptic device that provides human operators with information about the vibrations of the end-effector. This enables them, in addition to other sensory information, to better understand the situation and teleoperate a robot from a safe and more comfortable workplace. 

Is it correct to say that geospatial technologies are the “eyes” that help provide vision, localization, and precision to robots in automated construction projects?

Total stations and lidar sensors can definitely be used to provide an estimated position of the robot. However, for vision and calling it eyes, I would like to add stereo cameras to the list that provide images with depth information. Such images can be used to identify objects.

Can Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology also help improve how robots are used in construction?

One possibility of using AI is environment recognition. For example, AI can be used to recognize pre-drilled holes from camera images and estimate the target poses for screwing. We also need to recognize people and objects on site for safety. 

Further, large construction machines are very difficult to model accurately as they are susceptible to bending due to the payload. Therefore, training an AI model to predict the end-effector pose could be helpful. On a different note, AI could change the way human workers interact with robots. For example, human workers can use Large Language Models to explain to the robot what it should do next instead of programming it.

Timber wood was used in the livMatS Biomimetic Shell building project. What is the advantage of using timber material versus cement or brick in this project?

We always need to consider the payload of machines and find a good tradeoff between building element size and reducing the payload of the robot as this in turn also limits the maximum outreach. Wood has a better strength-to-weight ratio than concrete, so the building elements can be larger for the same weight.

Timber is also rather workable and therefore we can use joints made from the same material. The timber elements can be pre-fabricated into complex and optimized shapes with high accuracy and low waste. Also, timber can be regrown and is a renewable raw material. By using timber components, we can reduce the ecological footprint.

Currently, the construction sector accounts for approximately 39 percent of global CO2 emissions, 36 percent of energy consumption and 50 percent of raw material use. Raw material consumption is expected to double by 2060. Construction robots can make the construction of novel, environmentally-friendly buildings economically feasible. That’s why we need to change the way we build today.

In your opinion, what is the future of robotics in construction?

This question leads me back to my vision. Historically speaking, the automation of production has raised the standard of living. But construction sites are not automated to the same extent.

My vision is to achieve the same degree of automation in construction as in manufacturing and improve our standard of living. To achieve this, I think we really need to fully exploit the potential of robotics and create new construction methods and component designs that are highly efficient for automated construction, resource-efficient, and environmentally friendly. 

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