CEEM Seminar | Vineet Kamat | University of Michigan
Partnering Construction Workers with Interactive Robot Assistants via a Master-Apprentice Model
Construction robots continue to be increasingly deployed on construction sites to assist human workers in various tasks to improve safety, efficiency, and productivity. Due to the recent and ongoing growth in robot capabilities and functionalities, humans and robots are now able to work side-by-side and to share workspaces. The emerging field of human–robot collaboration has significant potential applications in construction and continues to advance the state of the art in defining the responsibilities of both humans and robots during collaborative work. This seminar will describe a new taxonomy for collaborative human–robot work in construction teams. The evolution of construction robots during the last two decades is first reviewed, and relevant bodies of work are categorized into one of five levels of human–robot collaboration: Preprogramming, Adaptive Manipulation, Imitation Learning, Improvisatory Control, and Full Autonomy. The categories of the proposed taxonomy are defined based on the level of robot autonomy and the corresponding human effort in collaborative teamwork. Second, this seminar uses the categories of the proposed taxonomy as a contextual framework to identify current challenges and knowledge gaps in collaborative human–robot construction work and recommends directions for future research.
Vineet Kamat
Dr. Vineet Kamat is the John L. Tishman Family Professor of Construction Management and Sustainability and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Michigan. He is a leading scholar in Construction Engineering and Management, known for pioneering research in construction automation, robotics, and human–robot collaboration. His work has advanced real-time construction monitoring, augmented reality visualization, and simulation of construction processes. Dr. Kamat is also recognized for his innovative teaching, mentorship of students, and leadership within the American Society of Civil Engineers and the international professional community.