CLAWAR SYSTEMS AS ENABLERS OF INTELLIGENT BUILDINGS OPERATION, CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN: A HOLISTIC VIEW

In this paper the state of the art of robotics applications in constructions is shortly reviewed. A holistic approach for robotics construction technology is discussed. The massive urbanism of the past century has led to city landscapes, in Europe, in North America, Japan and the industrialized part of the other continents, which are often far from being optimal in term of quality of life and architectural and urban design. Similar processes are ongoing in Asia, Latin America and Africa today. The need for a cheap and fast mass deployment of buildings to lodge a quickly growing mass of new inhabitants forces to build chaotic, inefficient, unpleasant and at various degrees unhealthy huge suburbs which usually may be defined, with some understatement, largely suboptimal with respect to quality of life and efficient resource exploitation. It is thought that agile manufacturing concepts, robotics science and technology and cognitive science, allowing craftwork like flexibility and creativity at mass production cheap costs, may enable a novel construction technology paradigm. We will analyze the issues and opportunities entailed by such a scenario.