How Robotics Can Make Housing More Affordable

Building construction practices have typically been slow to adapt to advances in technology. Contractors place a high priority on delivering the project on time and within budget and often refrain from experimentation. Robotics has been a standard tool for decades in industries such as manufacturing, but architects have only recently begun to implement it within their field. Changes in global economics and political landscapes have made constructing new buildings more expensive than ever before, including housing which is often built to minimum standards to offset rising material and labor expenses. In a time of housing shortages around the world, robotic technology has become crucial for producing replicable building components that can be installed quickly and on a mass scale.

Robotic arm constructing a parametic wooden structure designed by Gramazio & Kohler Photo Credit: ETH ZURICH

The assembly lines at car manufacturing plants show how prefabricated building components can be standardized for fast and low-cost installation. A car moves along a conveyor with specialized robotic machinery adding parts to produce the final product, and prefabricated building panels can be assembled in the same way, at a fraction of the cost and time of traditional building methods. The Chinese enterprise Broad Group introduced the ‘Living Building’ prefabricated construction system, with all functional components such as wiring, plumbing and circulation assembled together as fully finished panels in an automated manufacturing facility, and connected together at the site. Using this method, the company completed a ten-storey earthquake-resistant residential building in Changsha in just over a day. The reduced cost of automated prefabricated construction makes it ideal for countries like Canada that suffer from housing shortages.

China’s Broad Group developed a robot-assisted prefabricated construction method that was capable of producing a 10 storey building in 28 hours. Photo Credit: Broad Group

Labor accounts for one of the highest expenses in the construction process. On-site robots can reduce these costs by fulfilling tasks that would typically require experienced workers or elaborate scaffolding. Robotic drones fitted with sensors can scan existing sites to quickly provide accurate dimensions and site grades, identify repair points when converting existing buildings, and even assist with the construction process such as drywalling. On-site robots can also be used to modify the dimensions of incorrectly-sized building components instead of ordering new components which could delay the project by months. They can also aid in demolition and complex crane work, reducing the risk of workplace accidents. The drawback is the cost of operating and maintaining this robotic machinery, which should be taken into account and compared against the cost of human labor.

Drones are being used on construction sites to map data and produce photo documentation. Photo Credit: Josh Galemore

Robot-assisted design helps to produce standardized prefabricated housing on a mass scale, but it can also bring down the costs of more elaborate architecture. Parametric design is produced by robots assembling or 3D printing materials into highly complex pre-programmed shapes. Some projects would have been physically impossible to construct without the use of robotic equipment, such as the Arroyo Bridge in Los Angeles, designed by students of the University of Southern California’s School of Architecture. Its complex geometries required a robotic arm to hold specific elements in place during the welding process that would have been untenable using traditional methods. Applying robotics to build parametric designs can help produce more visually appealing housing at a fraction of the cost than if conventional practices were used.

The structurally complex design of the Arroyo Bridge in Los Angeles was only made possible by robotics, showing the potential for producing elaborate architecture at a lower cost. Photo Credit: Gigante AG

Innovations in robotic technologies give architects the opportunity to implement new visions at a feasible cost through the automation of the construction process. Robotic assembly units originally developed in manufacturing industries can be adapted to building construction as a solution to housing shortages and high construction labor costs. High quality and affordable housing should be made available for all, and robotics implemented into the design and construction process can help make this goal a reality.