TUHH Open Research
 

The information backbone of robotized construction: Principles, procedures, and software architecture

Start Page
2353
End Page
2360
Citation
43rd International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction, ISARC 2026
Contribution to Conference
43rd International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction, ISARC 2026  
Publisher DOI
10.22260/ISARC2026/0300
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-105046011116
Publisher
International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction (IAARC)
ISBN of container
978-0-6458322-3-5
Advances in robotic systems, sensing technologies, and artificial intelligence offer substantial potential to automate construction processes. However, current construction robotics applications are limited to specific tasks in isolated systems, lacking the integration required for coordinated, large-scale robotized construction that is applicable in a wide spectrum of trades. A key challenge is the absence of digital frameworks integrating product information, construction processes, robotic capabilities, and execution feedback across planning, simulation, and on-site operation. This paper presents the concept, principles, and software architecture of the information backbone of robotized construction (IBRC), a unifying framework for planning, simulating, and executing construction projects using coordinated, heterogeneous robotic systems. The IBRC comprises two tightly coupled environments: an offline planning environment and an online execution environment. The planning environment supports successive refinement of product and process information, starting from a building information model (BIM), via a fabrication information model (FIM), to a robot execution model (REM). The refinement is realized through a graph-based product-process representation and rule-based construction recipes, enabling the derivation of atomic construction actions at a granularity suitable for robotic execution. The execution environment builds on the results and supports both simulated and real-world operation. It relies on middleware, such as ROS 2 for real-time robot communication or Apache Kafka for scalable integration with higher-level services. Central orchestration is achieved through behavior-tree-based multi-robot coordination.
Subjects
BIM-based Process Planning
Construction Robotics
Fabrication Information Model
Information Backbone
Multi-Robot Coordination
Robotized Construction
DDC Class
600: Technology