Building Construction – Wall Finishes

Objective: To develop an autonomous robot to help improve the performance of tasks performed manually by skilled workers in building construction environments. The development will focus on plasterboard wall finishing (including painting), and its possible extension to other types of walls.

Current situation and problem description: In some markets, there is a lack of skilled workers to perform some types of activities during the construction phase of buildings, mainly in precision work. Therefore, in some construction projects, the same skilled person has to perform different tasks simultaneously or it is necessary to hire low-skilled workers. This means that there are inefficiencies such as, waste of materials, rework, customer complaints, etc. and all this of course with an economic impact.

How the use case (demonstration scenario) will work: Following the task assignment, the robotic system will be transported to the corresponding place and will: (1) Navigate to the targeted area; (2) Assess and accurately reconstruct the environment to delimit the targeted surface; (3) to work on the plasterboard wall (compound application, taping, sanding, cleaning, sealing and painting.

Expected outcome (Envisaged pilot execution or potential solution): Robots trained to perform the finishing of plasterboard walls in buildings under construction, allowing the improvement of schedules and with positive impacts on execution times and quality.

Expected impact: Improved efficiency in construction processes, allowing more flexible planning of tasks and appropriate allocation of resources to overcome shortages of skilled workers. Successful incorporation of robots into construction environments.