Publication | Construction Robotics 2020

Highly accessible platform technologies for vision‑guided, closed‑loop robotic assembly of unitized enclosure systems

This paper documents work to create a flexible workflow for industrialized robots to assemble unitized construction panels. It describes a closed-loop robotic control system using an eye-in-hand depth camera to identify and pick up a variety of construction materials in the workspace.

Download publication

Abstract

Highly accessible platform technologies for vision‑guided, closed‑loop robotic assembly of unitized enclosure systems

Daniel Tish, Nathan King, Nicholas Cote

Construction Robotics 2020

Equipping robotics with the capacity to make decisions based on real-time information about their physical environment is crucial to the success of in situ robotics and offers many process advantages in prefabrication scenarios as well. However, the perceived technical challenges of producing environmentally-aware closed-loop robotics have limited their use in construction and design applications. To address this challenge, a low-cost and largely open-source computer vision-guided closed-loop robotic control paradigm is developed. The system is used here to identify construction materials in the workspace and calculate their position in space and determine their place in the facade panel assembly. The industrial robot arm is equipped with an RGB-depth camera in an eye-in-hand configuration to give control over the positioning of the camera for greatest accuracy. The control system relies on a simple TCP client/server connection between the robot and a central control computer to pass information and instructions from the computer vision system to the robot and vice versa. This setup delivers process flexibility, enabling pick-and-place procedures of the material positioned randomly within the workspace. In this work, the technologies are deployed in a factory-type setting but would also be necessary for any on-site robotic construction system, building towards an on-site robotics future. The final product of this research is a unitized spandrel panel wherein the vision-guided robot finds and places the insulation, cement board, and masonry cladding materials.

Related Resources

Publication

2007

Stam on Maya’s nCloth

Jos Stam, Autodesk’s resident Principal Scientist, had three hours…

Publication

2015

Digital Campus Innovation Project: Integration of Building Information Modelling with Building Performance Simulation and Building Diagnostics

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has emerged as a powerful…

Publication

2015

Designing for AM: Integrating Mesh-Based Modelling Techniques with Parametric CAD

The growing use of additive manufacturing lifts many constraints on…

Article

2023

Girl Gang Garage’s Volvo Restoration Inspires Next Generation of Technicians

How Girl Gang Garage uses Fusion 360 for a vehicle mash-up. …

Get in touch

Something pique your interest? Get in touch if you’d like to learn more about Autodesk Research, our projects, people, and potential collaboration opportunities.

Contact us