Robotics technologies aided for 3D printing in construction: a review

Robotics and 3D printing are becoming more widely used in the field of construction industry. This paper reviews the work focused on the robotics technologies that aided for 3D printing in construction. Several aspects of them can be summarized as follows: (1) system composition and information flow, (2) robot workspace and motion planning, (3) control system and optimization of control strategy, (4) precision measurement and optimization, (5) quality assessment of 3D printing, (6) others, such as stability and interoperability. The challenge of every aspect is analyzed, and the correspondingly technical characteristics and methods are discussed in detail. The differences between robotics and construction mechanisms for 3D printing are analyzed and compared. Also, the robotics are further classified based on the workpiece size and their configurations. Finally, a brief description of future work to the robotics that suitable for 3D printing in construction is prospected.