Analysis of the impact of construction robots on workers' health

Abstract

To objectively evaluate the impact of robotic construction on workers' health, in this study, we used disability-adjusted life years to evaluate health damage and used the social willingness-to-pay (WTP) method to convert these into economic losses to visualize health damage. The study conducted a series of experiments to analyze the impact of robotic construction on workers' health. Specifically, it compared the noise and dust health damage of manual construction workers and robot operators performing the same construction tasks. The study compared three aspects of the health damage of operations: overall, according to operation, and on individual workers. The results showed that the robot operators had lower dust and noise health damage with respect to all three aspects. The health damage of workers in most robotic construction operations was less than 40% of that in traditional manual operations. Due to the different physical properties of dust and noise, in robotic construction, the reduction of workers' health damage is greater for dust than for noise. In most robotic construction operations, the dust health damage of workers is less than 10% of that of traditional manual operations; the noise health damage is 10%–40%. For most operations, dust is a more serious health hazard factor for workers in traditional manual construction, while noise is more serious in robotic construction.