Delegation or Collaboration: Understanding Different Construction Stakeholders’ Perceptions of Robotization

Abstract

Recent advances in robotic technologies have stimulated interest in bringing robots onto construction sites, which will in turn bring robots and humans into closer working proximity. Introducing robots requires significant redesign of construction processes, crew compositions, and task allocations, and understanding potential end users’ perceptions and expectations of these robots is the critical first step in designing and implementing effective collaborative work between humans and robots. To this end, this study examines trade workers’ and managers’ perceptions and expectations of construction robots. This study undertook a qualitative content analysis of interviews with 36 construction professionals to examine how different stakeholders present their perceptions and expectations of robots, depending on their organizational position and specialized trade work. The analysis results indicate that job complexity and the perceived safety risk associated with the trade most significantly influence workers’ desired capabilities for robots as well as their perceptions of robots’ usefulness. Based on these findings, this study establishes workers’ fundamental conceptions of construction robots with respect to job characteristics, establishing the groundwork and direction for future construction robot development.