Robotics and AI

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is having a cultural moment this year: the abstract ideas and algorithms of these complex systems have left the lab to touch our lives in new, mind expanding ways. Generative AI - and in particular generative image-making and large language models - have humbled and inspired us to rethink how architects and designers can contribute to the field of Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC).

Yet despite this cultural zeitgeist, machine learning and artificial intelligence are nothing new in robotics. In fact, these techniques are the cornerstone of how robots have navigated, reasoned, and manipulated the world around them for decades.

This Special Issue invites submissions of research articles that explore the impact of AI on the holistic process of construction. Although “AI” can be a catch-all term, there are a multitude of segments in AEC where smart, adaptive systems can help us better transform intangible ideas to physical realities.

In particular, we seek to promote a broad spectrum of research that innovates across AEC segments: from construction workforce education, to enhanced worker safety, novel human-machine interfaces, construction-aware design tools, material management systems, mobile on-site construction robots, autonomous site surveying, or predictive life cycle analysis tools. We see the immense possibilities of AI to help us do more with less, and encourage submissions that are demonstrably pulling us towards this future.

This call is directed towards, but not limited to, the following:

• Generative Design-to-Construction Workflows • Robotic Apprenticeship • Augmented Construction Tools • Gestural and Natural Language Interfaces for Robotic Construction • Human-Robot Interaction and Collaboration • Heterogeneous Robotic Systems for Construction • Autonomous Site Surveying • Educational Tools for Construction • Task Planning for Robotic Construction • Novel Construction Robots • Robotics & Large Language Models (LLMs).