Term Project

Similar to M. Gonzalez and E. Cilifgu, I too am researching robotics in construction, but I will be focusing on the socioeconomic impact of robots in construction.  During many of our class discussions regarding different topics we have shifted the focus of “what all of this intelligent building actually means” for our job market.  So, I decided to use this project as an opportunity to try to figure out what it actually does mean based on research into what effect robotics had on the aerospace and automotive industry.  I choose these two fields as we have also determined in class that the technologies of these industries eventually become used in some form in the building and construction industry.

I realize that the socioeconomic impact on the construction industry as a whole would be a rather large range to try to tackle in just one paper so I have decided to focus on contractors/construction workers for the time being and possibly extend it to engineers and owners if time and resources permit me to.

In my preliminary research, I have found a source [1] that proposes that robots do not always take jobs and can actually create them.  This is interesting as most assume that the introduction of robotics means a loss of human jobs, especially those that are repetitive in nature.  And if this is potentially the case, what kind of jobs are they creating.  Are they similar to the old jobs or is it an entirely new kind of job?  And if it is not necessarily creating the same or new kinds of jobs, does it allow workers to focus their attention on another aspect of the industry?  A different industry?

I, of course, will also discuss the effect that robots have on the safety of workers and the positive social impacts of this.

And in my conclusion, I plan on making projections for the future of robotics in the construction industry based on what we’ve seen in the other two industries.

[1] http://www.ifr.org/uploads/media/Metra_Martech_Study_on_robots_02.pdf