Object-Oriented Domain Modelling of Constructed Facilities for Robotic Operations

Abstract

Construction is an important industrial sector in the economy of most countries. However, it has lagged behind other sectors in terms of technological innovations and productivity gains (Warszawski, 1984). Robotic technology is emerging from the controlled manufacturing environment and its application in construction will potentially:

• reduce labor costs through automation thus resulting in productivity increases,

• achieve better and more consistent quality because of the accuracy and the precision of robots, and

• improve safety in construction by having robots perform tasks involving high risks.

Intelligent robots for construction or facility maintenance will need to maintain and operate on a computer-based representation of the robot’s operating environment. It is imperative that such a model be employed. It provides the robot’s controller with a representation of its environment which is used in making intelligent and rational decisions regarding operations. This computer-based

representation, denoted a Domain Model, is the central repository of information describing the environment. It reflects the current state of the environment, and is used to generate plans of action, to record modifications made to the environment, to support sensor interpretation, and to retrieve information about the environment that is needed by robotic operations.