This week the articles I read for class focused on robotics primarily and the various applications that they can be applied in. The assigned reading for this week"Robotics" from access science discussed the different types of robots and robotics systems. The article gave a very good general description of the different types of robots and how they are operated autonomously which made for a good reference article when reading other articles that used specific terminology. One example of this us the mention of double fuzzy logic systems in the article "Intelligent Inhabited Environments," which is used to have robots "learn" so that they make fewer mistakes and become more efficient at performing their given task. Another article that discussed using robots was "Architects using Robots to Build Beautiful Structures." In this article, they discuss using robots for not only building basic structures with brick and wood but also using robots as a milling machine to create complicated parts that could shape the acoustics of a room. Having a robot that can manufacture complicated parts can make construction costs in the future much cheaper since robots have the potential to be cheaper labor than people. This point is brought up in the article "Trend analysis of research and development on automation and robotics technology in the construction industry," which said in the abstract that there is the possibility for savings in the long run with R&D but if the project is just a short-term venture, then the possibility for savings decrease and resources become limited.
Another item that is addressed is in the blog post "Robotics Reading" which discusses how robotics are useful for repeated tasks but are still greatly lacking in "complex and unique construction requirements." The author goes on to voice his skepticism over the construction industry becoming fully automated, which I will agree is will not happen for quite some time and I believe there will always be a need for people during the construction of a building even in the distant future, however I think there will be a time where robotics are responsible for upwards of 90% of the construction from start to finish.
The point about high development costs (building the robotic system) and perhaps a short return life (construction of build) is a very interesting point. I thought about the use of robotics in residential pre-fab construction, since the robots would be used in controlled environments. This could also help alleviate the high cost and low return scenario, as pre-fab projects are generally mass produced and delivered to clients all over the country.
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