REVIEW PAPERS

AUTOMATION AND ROBOTICS IN

THE CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY - A REVIEW

By

K. N. NARASIMHA PRASAD * VINAY MOHAN AGRAWAL **

* Associate Professor, National Institute of Construction Management and Research, Goa Campus, India.
** Assistant Professor, National Institute of Construction Management and Research, Goa Campus, India.
Date Received: 20/02/2019 Date Revised: 20/03/2019 Date Accepted: 27/03/2019

ABSTRACT
Robotics and automation was considered unsuitable for the construction site due to uniqueness of construction
projects, their dynamic nature, and aggressive environmental conditions at site. However, shortage of skilled labour and
their high costs and the need to ensure quality, safety along with fast track constructions has made entry of robotics and
automation into construction sites, which is an inevitable fact. Also increased awareness of artificial intelligence
technology, use of lasers and sensors in making robotics and automation are more user-friendly even in construction
sites. In this study, the available literature on automation and robotics developed for the construction industry is analysed.
Keywords: Automation, Robotics, SMART System, Roof Push up Construction Method, Automated Building Construction
System, T-up System, Big Canopy Construction System, Future Automated Construction Efficient System.

INTRODUCTION systems to include construction and deconstruction

The Indian construction industry, like most other sectors,
continues to lay emphasis on human resource rather than
mechanisation. However, with increased levels of
education and comfort, despite the high population
growth availability of quality labour force is on the
decrease. Moreover, many of the construction works
related to tunnelling, offshore works, basement
construction and the like are hazardous and construction
companies prefer to use more of machinery and less of
human resource under these conditions. Construction
equipment usage in India is increasing year after year due
to these reasons and in value terms is expected to touch
$5 billion by 2020 from $3 billion in 2016. The number of
construction equipments sold in 2016 was 76,000 units
and is expected to be about 96,730 in 2018 (Construction
Equipment, 2017).
activities for high rise and special buildings. Besides
assisting in construction activities, robotics can be
employed for cutting, stacking, packaging, lifting,
shifting, loading, unloading, and other repetitive activities
at a construction site. “In 2015, Make in India invested over
$13 billion in robotics” (Robotics set to speedup
construction industry: JLL, Business Line, 2018). The annual
investment on infrastructure for the period 2016-2020 is
about 118 billion USD is expected to increase to 230 billion
USD by 2025, based on proposed investments on
infrastructure (Sapatnekar, Patnaik, & Kishore, 2018). The
smart cities mission announced in the year 2015 is
expected to further fuel the infrastructure and related
activities. As a result of such infrastructure growth, the
dependence and usage of robotics and other forms of
automation is expected to see a high growth.

Automation is the computerized use of machinery for
performance of different tasks with minimal human
assistance (Cummings, 2014). Automation in the
construction industry ranges from single task works like
brick laying, concrete shotcreting to fully automated
The main obstacle for the growth of automation in the
Indian construction industry is the fact that India relies
more on reinforced cement concrete construction unlike
its western counterparts. Also most construction in India is
onsite rather than using prefabricated units. The use of

i-manager’s Journal on Future Engineering & Technology, Vol. 14 ·

No. 3 ·
February - April 2019 49