Monash University’s Department of Civil Engineering will lead an interdisciplinary team from seven Australian universities to develop a one-of-a-kind facility centred on structural assembled and construction automation.

The research aims to improve the quality and productivity of the construction industry using robotic technology and it has received more than half a million dollars from the Australian Research Council.

It features a flexible and adaptive design as well as space for a team of collaborative robotics in an interactive environment to achieve automated prefabrication, assembly and building.

The project aims to transform the current labour-intensive construction industry into one that uses highly automated and accurate prefabrication processes, as well as bring on benefits to the economy and worker safety.

It was made possible through a grant from the Australian Government’s Linkage, Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) program.

Professor Yu Bai says many industries, such as manufacturing and transport, had adopted automated practices to speed up, optimise and economise production. However, the construction industry was lagging and not yet well-taking advantage of such technological advancements.

“Robotic technology has made significant progress in several industry domains in the last several years and construction can benefit from this advancement,” he says.

“The use of robotic technology can be a game-changing step as seen in other industries such as aerospace and automobile engineering.

“It means the transformation of on-site prototype construction to made-to-measure structural production and the elevation of prefabrication and off-site manufacturing into automated processes. Furthermore, automating traditional construction approaches can remove workers’ exposure to unsafe tasks and hazardous work environments.”

This facility builds upon extensive research by Professor Bai and colleagues on modular construction and composites for construction. When combined with robotic technology, this can result in faster, more precise, lower cost and higher-quality production outcomes.

“We’re grateful to the Australia Government’s LIEF program for its support behind our vision to benefit the building industry so it is safer for workers, more environmentally sustainable and, above all, more affordable for consumers.”