Robotics

The first article I read is from Scientific American, entitled “Rise of the Robots – The Future of Artificial Intelligence".  The article is written by adjunct professor Hans Moravec at Carnegie Mellon University.  The main focus of the article is to detail how robots will advance in the next few decades.  The first main point of the article is why robots are not as advanced now as they were predicted to be in the 1950’s.  The article goes in to very good detail about what advancements have been made in the past 50 years to computers, robots and most importantly computing power.  When the article was written in 2008 some of the most advanced personal computers could only perform about 10,000 million instructions per second (MIPS).  The article concludes with the author’s prediction for how general use robots will evolve once the capabilities are available.  The final statement made by the author is that the evolution of robots is almost identical to that of humans, however 10 million times more rapidly.  The article contains much information about the evolution of robots over the past 15 years and is very informative about the current technologies.  The only problem with this article is that it is 4 years old already, and while that may not seem like much time, the rate at which robots are evolving is remarkably fast.  In the article the advance the author talks about from 4 years before writing were remarkable.  The speed of evolution has only increased since then.  I think it would be interesting to read a follow up article by the same professor to see if things are following how he predicted 4 years ago.

            The second article that I read is “The Realization of Intelligent Buildings”.  The article explains how the idea of an intelligent building is no longer just an idea, but has been done in multiple locations across the country.  It also states that one main problem with the intelligent building discussion is that there is no specific definition but more an agreement that certain things need to be involved, very similarly to what we discussed in class.  One reason for this is that technologies are advancing so rapidly that stating something must be involved may be outdated in only a few years.  The main concept is that all systems in the building should work together and relay the information gathered by the sensors to a central location for monitoring.  One point that article brought up was that many new buildings already have some intelligence in them, however it is varying for every building.  One system that is intelligent in almost every building is the fire system, which when a fire is sensed the other building systems begin to react.  In many buildings “exhaust dampers open, the IP paging and intercom systems issues instructions to occupants, the access-control system unlocks doors for evacuation, and CCTV cameras provide emergency responders with a view of the fire”.  The article contained lots of information about how intelligent buildings are beneficial to both the tenants and the owners.  It also attempted to address some of the main reasons against them such as cost, stating that the long term payoffs are worth the potential additional costs.  I would have liked if the article detailed more of the negative points to intelligent buildings, however the article is written as a persuasive piece for the development of more intelligent buildings, so some of the information needs to be taken with a grain of salt.

            The required article was a very good base for general information about robotics.  The article contained all necessary generic information about the current state of technology involved with robots.  I found the second half of the article more interesting because it detailed all of the various improvements that have been made recently and how different sensors are being implemented into robots to fulfill different tasks.  The section on Intelligent Systems was one I found to be very informative and neat, especially the Holonic systems.  This section detailed how multiple independent parts can be worked together to create a very effective and efficient machine for a specific task.  I liked knowing about the ability of the machines that currently exist and what can be done with more refining.  The section at the very end about how robotics can be used for prosthetic devices and aids for people with disabilities was also an interesting section.  The exoskeleton walking mechanism seems like a great device for people with a disability to their legs, as it allows them to walk around with only the support of crutches.  This can allow that person to be much more independent and perform many more tasks that were difficult or impossible from a wheelchair.  The article was very informative about all aspects of what currently exists.  I would have like to see the article go more into detail about how some of these current technologies are being used now or expected to be used in the near future. 
  

Robotics Reading

The additional article I read was:

“Team Robot: Researchers Demonstrate Autonomous Vehicles With Advanced Collaborative Exploration and Mapping Capabilities”

The assigned robotics reading provides a lot of general information about the field of robotics, but it does not go into detail about the applications. It discusses how robots function through movement, controls, sensors, and intelligent systems. It is useful for general knowledge on the topic, not the use of robotics for intelligent buildings.

The above article discusses robots that function autonomously and collaboratively to simultaneously explore and map a structure. The project is being developed by a team from the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of Pennsylvania and the California Institute of Technology/Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The designed application is for first responders such as firefighters or soldiers entering a potentially dangerous building.  The robots communicate with each other and send a map back to the people outside without relying on GPS, but GPS can be used to also relay the robot’s current position.  The robots use video and laser sensors to detect the structure and radar and infrared sensors are in development.

This technology can be used in disaster and military scenarios to provide a quick map of an unknown structure and even danger areas and locations of people. It will lower the risk for people entering dangerous situations and increase the efficiency of their mission.  The article only briefly mentioned future development and did not discuss other applications of this technology.  This technology can be applied to robots that roll on the ground or fly and carry many different sensors.  I also see this technology being used for applications such as inspecting buildings under construction or in danger of collapse and evaluating the performance of building systems.  It relates to the idea of swarm robots, many small robots working together to accomplish a task.  These mapping robots could work with construction robots to inspect the progress of building construction and provide the plans for remaining work.

Robotics and Automation

The first article that i have read is “Robotics and Automation in Constuction” written by E.Gambao and C.Balaguer. The authors empahize that the contruction industry is very unfamilar to robotics however it is a very old and large economic sector. On the other hand, they mention that residential construction ,in particular high-rise buildings may become one of the biggest businesses in future. Moreover, transportation and assmbly devices will be very critical for efficient house building. The authors also criticize the interior-finishing operations. They believe that these operations are very time consuming and require high degree of accuracy. Additionally, they mention that the need for prefabricated elements has been increasing so that robotics is becoming very important in construction and housing.

The second article that i have read is called “Automation in Construction” written by E.Zavadskas. In this article ,the author talks about the results of 25th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction. He emphasizes that the use of communication and communication technology has been increasing for last two decades and there is a trend towards designing large and significant buildings with unusual configurations. However, he believes that it is very difficult to determine the exact rationale for making decisions in relation to robotic in construction. Due to the fact that, a building’s life cycle and its environment constitue a very complex system. All the subsystems influence the overall performance and each of them plays a significant role.

In conclusion, after reading the articles i have determined that robotics and automation systems have significant importance in building sector . Considering that construction is such a complex system consisting of many independent subsystems, it is such a challenge to make a decision in order to choose the proper and effective automation system.

Robotics reading assignment, week one

In addition to the required reading article from AccessScience, I read an article on a robot that was programmed to fold bath towels and an article on "Robotic Ecology" in architecture. I found the AccessScience article to be kind of dry but it was informative, and a good place to start in reading about robotics and learning about the technology. It was interesting to learn that robots can be "taught." Like how people have muscle memory, robots can be programmed to repeat an action after it has been "shown" how to perform it. This information was particularly useful and applicable to the article I read about a graduate student at University of California at Berkley and a team of his colleagues who created a robot that was programmed to fold towels. This robot was able to pick up a towel that it had never "seen" before, analyze it, and then orient it properly in order to fold it perfectly, then put it in a stack of other folded towels. While this seems like a sort of a small accomplishment, it's actually a pretty big advancement in robotic technology. Before the development of this robot, robots were only able to interact with objects that they had previously encountered. This is even more impressive because towels being soft and flexible do not hold a rigid shape, making it even harder for the robot to analyze how to fold it. Here is a video in the article (only two minutes) showing the robot (at 50x actual speed) at work:



The second article I read related to the idea of robotics in architecture. When I was searching for articles that related to my field of interest (structures) and robots, I was thinking more along the lines of how robotics could be used to construct buildings or things more along those lines. Instead, this article was about a professor at the University of Virginia who teaches a class called "Robotic Ecologies," where students discuss how robotics could affect architecture: what if the building changed shape as you walked through it? adjusted its own lighting depending on the weather? etc. The students then created models that showed their perception of robotic ecologies in architecture. Some made models that moved in order to absorb and store renewable energy sources, or a building that changed its shape depending on the wind patterns in order to be more aerodynamic. I found this article interesting because it was different then what I was expecting to read about robotics in structures... which was a nice surprise.

Readings on Robotics

The two articles I chose are as follows: http://www.automatedbuildings.com/news/feb09/articles/mobile/090125024654mobile.htm

http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20070919/shape-shifters

The first article goes into detail about the usefulness of robots in buildings. One of the main uses for these robots is the development of BIM for existing buildings. The process is typically an expensive and time consuming process, which can be avoided by the use of robots. These robots are also programmed to navigate the buildings in which they are located. This allows for the robot to accomplish various other tasks such as gathering data or moving supplies around. For more information about these robots, please read the complete article.

On another note, the second article explains how buildings are now being designed to interact with the environment they enclose. Mainly, the article references the University of Virginia’s radical new program that allows architectural students to collaborate with students from other professions. The result of this collaboration is a building design that changes with the help of robotics when certain events occur within the building. For example, a concert hall’s ceiling will expand or contract in response to the circulation of people within. This change optimizes the hall’s acoustics during events. As one might imagine, this technology can be adapted to suit a different need. The ultimate goal of this article is to familiarize people with the new idea of changing buildings.

The assigned article gave me all the basic information about robotics. Mainly, the article discussed how robots work and the operating systems behind them. Both these articles related to the main article, but in different ways. The first article explains how robots can be used to gather information from a building or to complete tasks. By reading the main article, one might be able to visualize how these robots are able to complete the tasks asked of them. The second article shows the usefulness of robots in a buildings architecture. The systems receive information from the environment and then react. Overall, the articles stress the fact that robots are available and can be used in building management and design.

Robotics

Besides reading the articles from Access Science two was a blog post titled Architects Using Robots to Build Beautiful Structures and the other was a journal article titled Trend analysis of research and development on automation and robotics technology in the construction industry these two you can see on our Gdocs page.

The robot in “Architects Using Robots to Build Beautiful Structures”  is a mechanical arm and it looks like the ones used to build cars. It has the capability to work inside or outdoors.  Besides creating brick walls, this robot could also build a column out of wooden slats and has a milling attachment to mill parts for construction. This robot is able to move as well, it can be fitted onto tracks or onto treads where it can to roam freely. The robot can do large projects such as a 22 meter long wall. In 2009 the team used robots to help create a wooden structure. The robot was able to cut and place the wooden slats according to an algorithm. You can see a video of it in action from the link to the article.

In the research article “Trend analysis of research and development on automation and robotics technology in the construction industry”, it focuses on the growing trend on the research and development of robotics and other advanced technology in the construction industry. It looked at research papers that appeared in the International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC) from 1990-2008 to see if there were any trends. The authors looked at organized the research into different categories, such as Planning and Design, Construction Robotics and Intelligent Job-Site Management, Operation and Maintenance. They also discuss in what countries are researching these technologies and what organizations are doing the research and what categories they are focusing on.

How does all of these articles relate to each other and relate to class? Well, based off what I found and the discussion and video from class on Tuesday, the industry seems to be focusing on research and development of robotics and automation in the construction phase, more so than the design or maintenance of a building. If they can streamline the construction process, more projects can be done faster and in the long run save project owners money and increase profit margin for construction firms.

Week 2 - Robotics Readings

The first article I read outside of Access Science during my search on robotics was title “European Research Team Develops Intelligent Robot Swarm”. This article focused on the designs of a research team commissioned by NASA to develop robots for the construction of a base on the Moon. This robots would work in a swarm consisting of 50+ robots, each with varying capabilities and body types. The swarm would work like a hive mind with all the individual robots communicating and working with one another to perform all tasks necessary for construction. The swarm can provide itself with site information using aerial photographs from flying robots. The swarm would also contain bots capable of transporting less mobile bots over tough terrain. The diverse groups of robots would allow the swarm to accomplish many different construction tasks and their programming and communication abilities allows them to work together to solve issues.

The second article, titled “Robot Collective Construction by Blind Bulldozing”, was very related to the first. This too discussed construction performed by a group robots, but focused more on the interactions the bots would have. The research team that wrote this paper studied the behaviors of insects during construction, such as ant building a nest. They then mimic this behavior through robots and programming to determine how successful this approach would be. They found that they could give the robots the same instincts the ants had which is to perform work based on the state of the construction zone.