ICRA2017 Workshop Proposal
Title:
Workshop on Robot Enabled Construction
Type:
Full day workshop, proposed for ICRA 2017
The Organizers:
- Nils Napp, Assistant Professor, CSE department, University at Buffalo, USA (https://www.cse.buffalo.edu/~nnapp/)
- Kirstin Petersen, Assistant Professor, ECE department, Cornell University, USA (http://cei.ece.cornell.edu/)
Abstract:
This workshop concerns automated construction of human-scale structures, spanning everything from long term goals in bio-inspired cooperative robotics and algorithms for construction, to practical issues of implementing automation on today’s construction sites. Currently, advances in this field originate from robotics researchers, architects, and industry with very little overlap. Identifying common challenges and solutions will not only promote collaborations and long-term progress but also focus research questions and allow enhanced construction by robots in the real world in the near future.
In addition to improving construction as we know it, automated construction has the potential to enable novel types of structures and construction in settings that have been deemed too hard for human labor in the past. As reported by the UN-Habitat and the UN Refugee Agency respectively, more than 2 billion people are currently living in inadequate housing facilities and the number of refugees fleeing their homes has exceeded 60 million people annually. According to the US Department of Labor, more than 20% of all work-related injuries in the US happen in the construction sector. The need for innovative, safe, efficient, inexpensive, and sustainable construction have never been greater.
We will solicit contributions from the following topics:
- Bio-inspired construction
- Construction in natural systems
- Agent based construction models
- Real-world construction automation
- Interacting with unstructured environments
- Interacting with people
- Prefabrication in construction
- Design enabled by the precision and programmability of robots
- Novel materials for automated construction and advanced use of old materials.