Abstract
The construction industry is a major economic sector, but it is plagued with inefficiencies and low productivity. Robotics and automated systems have the potential to address these shortcomings; however, the level of adoption in the construction industry is very low. This paper presents an investigation into the industry-specific factors that limit the adoption in the construction industry. A mixed research method was employed combining literature review, qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. Three focus groups with 28 experts and an online questionnaire were conducted. Principal component and correlation analyses were conducted to group the identified factors and find hidden correlations. The main identified challenges were grouped into four categories and ranked in order of importance: contractor-side economic factors, client-side economic factors, technical and work-culture factors, and weak business case factors. No strong correlation was found among factors. This study will help stakeholders to understand the main industry-specific factors limiting the adoption of robotics and automated systems in the construction industry. The presented findings will support stakeholders to devise mitigation strategies.
Highlights
The construction industry is one of the most important economic sectors across the world [13,44]
The results of this study can be analysed based in a local context and mitigating strategies can be devised to address the specific challenges that limit the adoption of robotics in the construction industry
Regarding the value that robotics can provide to the construction industry, this study shows that there are no sufficiently detailed cost/ benefit studies for adopting robotics in construction
Summary
The construction industry is one of the most important economic sectors across the world [13,44]. Despite its huge economic importance, the construction industry is beset with inefficiencies. Productivity in many sectors has been increasing steadily in the last five decades; productivity in the construction industry has barely increased, and it may have even decreased [50]. Robotics and automated systems have the potential to revolutionise and provide many advantages to the construction industry and to the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) area as a whole Robotic systems and automation have proved to be very effective in other sectors for reducing labour costs while improving productivity and quality [12] argues that conventional construction methods have reached their limits and that automation and robotics technologies have the potential to address the productivity challenges of the construction industry
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