Use of Robotics to Coordinate Health and Safety on the Construction Site

The construction industry has the highest number of accidents compared to other sectors of the economy. Minimising the risk of accidents requires compliance with safety standards and constant monitoring by re-sponsible persons. The use of robots for high-risk work can increase safety and prevent accidents on construction sites. On the other hand, the use of ro-bots can create new health risks. Especially the use of UAVs is therefore highly regulated, whereas this is not the case for legged robots. This paper identifies the challenges and opportunities for coordinating health and safety on construction sites with robots. It is based on a literature analysis that looks at the status of the general area of applica-tion of robots and health and safety coordination ser-vices. Based on the literature analysis, guided workshops were held with various stakeholders (site managers, health and safety coordinators, German employer's liability insurance association (BG Bau), clients and planners). To validate the results, a quantitative sur-vey was conducted. The interviewees believe that robots can assist them with activities on the construction site or take over some of the activities independently. Challenges iden-tified the interviewees were mainly related to pur-chase costs, acceptance by construction workers an unclear legal framework. The results show that robots should work autonomously. To create synergies, ro-bots should not only coordinate health and safety, but also carry out target-performance comparisons with the building model, produce daily construction re-ports with photos and take measurements of the trades.