Automated re-prefabrication system for buildings using robotics
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Publication Date
2017-11-01Journal Title
Automation in Construction
ISSN
0926-5805
Publisher
Elsevier
Volume
83
Pages
184-195
Type
Article
This Version
AM
Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Kasperzyk, C., Kim, M., & Brilakis, I. (2017). Automated re-prefabrication system for buildings using robotics. Automation in Construction, 83 184-195. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2017.08.002
Abstract
Prefabrication has the advantages of simplicity, speed and economy but has been inflexible to changes in design
which is a primary reason behind its limited market share in the construction industry. To tackle this drawback,
this study presents a Robotic Prefabrication System (RPS) which employs a new concept called “re-fabrication”:
the automatic disassembly of a prefabricated structure and its reconstruction according to a new design. The RPS
consists of a software module and a hardware module. First, the software employs the 3D model of a prefabricated
structure as input, and returns motor control command output to the hardware. There are two underlying
algorithms developed in the software module. First, a novel algorithm automatically compares the old
and new models and identifies the components which the two models do not have in common in order to enable
disassembly of the original structure and its refabrication into the new design. In addition, an additional novel
algorithm computes the optimal refabrication sequence to transform one model into another according to the
differences identified. Meanwhile, the hardware module takes the motor control commands as input and executes
the appropriate assembly/disassembly operations, and returns the desired refabricated structure in realtime.
Validation tests on two lab-scaled prefabricated structures demonstrate that the system successfully generated
the desired refabrication sequences and performed all assembly operations with acceptable placement
precision.
Keywords
Robotic Prefabrication System (RPS), robotics, prefabrication, disassembly, refabrication
Sponsorship
EPSRC (EP/N021614/1)
Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2017.08.002
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/274626
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Licence URL: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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