Robotics in Construction: Advancing Refurbishment and Material Reuse

The current construction industry is inherently misaligned with the planetary boundaries. Not only do we exceed our budget of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, but the industry’s increasing demand for new resources is damaging our natural environment. Robotics in construction promises to support the transition to a sustainable building industry. Advancements in robotics and adaptive control enable the development of new processes in building renovation and in the reuse of building components.

As part of his PhD at RWTH Aachen University, Christoph Heuer conducts research at the intersection of robotics and sustainability. In this context, he poses a series of questions: i) How can robotics operate in unstructured environments such as a construction site? ii) How can we improve the workers’ conditions for physically strenuous tasks? iii) How can we use automation to extract building components for reuse and support the refurbishment of existing structures? By showing examples of his research, he will attempt to answer these questions, outlining an automated future for a sustainable construction industry.

Speaker: Christoph Heuer, RWTH (Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule) Aachen University