Planning and visualization for automated robotic crane erection processes in construction

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2005.06.008Get rights and content

Abstract

This paper summarizes ongoing research aimed at developing knowledge, methods and tools required to implement automated robotic crane erection processes for the construction industry. In the proposed approach, construction cranes are treated as multi-degree-of-freedom robots and modeled in a virtual environment. Virtual cranes are provided with motion-planning algorithms that enable them to find collision-free and time-efficient paths for each piece that needs to be erected. Inverse kinematics are then used to determine the crane motions required to move elements in previously computed paths. By using an effective method to coordinate the tasks and motions of multiple cranes, the system is also extended to construction projects that require simultaneous use of closely-spaced cranes. The virtual crane model provides realistic visualizations of erection processes and detailed erection schedules.

Section snippets

Introduction and motivation

Cranes are one of the most heavily used and shared resources in construction sites. Only in the U.S., there are approximately 125,000 cranes operating in the construction industry. These cranes are involved in many different tasks. For example, during the construction of steel or precast reinforced concrete buildings, cranes are not only used for erecting structural members but are also used for lifting precast façade elements, curtain wall systems and many other materials and nonstructural

Previous research

Cranes and automation technologies are two important fundamentals in this research, which aimed at automating the crane erection processes. Previous investigators have researched these two topics for years. This section summarizes previous research results and explains how to expand and integrate the previous efforts to achieve the goal of our research.

Motion planning of a single crane

Current efficiency of crane utilization can be significantly improved by optimizing the moving path and crane operation. Today, the cranes are manipulated by the operators mainly depending on their experiences or even by their intuition. This empirical manipulation can be inefficient and often cause some unsafe movement. Since crane operators cannot always find optimal motions for manipulating a crane particularly optimum simultaneous movement of three of four degree of freedoms, the crane may

Motion planning of multiple cranes

Increasing number of multi-crane constructions is an important motivation for the research. Using multiple cranes in construction is becoming common these days because of the trend toward large-scale or fast-track constructions. It can create several working fronts, which can significantly reduce total erection time. Moreover, very large cranes are often much more expensive and less available in certain areas. In many cases, modifying the design to allow the use of several smaller cranes may

Implementation of iCrane

We implemented the intelligent crane in a computer system, iCrane, which can automatically generate the operation-leveled simulation of erection processes. iCrane was equipped with algorithms developed in this research, having the capacity of (1) generating erection sequence; (2) finding collision-free erection paths of each structural element; (3) planning the motions of construction crane(s) to follow the calculated erection paths; and (4) coordinating the motions between multiple cranes. The

Utilizing iCrane in construction practice

iCrane can automatically search the erection paths, plan the crane motions and visualize detailed erection processes before or during construction. While applied iCrane in construction practice, iCrane system can broadly benefit crane operators and construction management to perform their work more efficiently. The system eventually can be used in design phase to facilitate the design processes.

Having computational methods, we can input construction criteria and geometrical information related

Conclusions

We have developed effective methods to model construction cranes in computers and equipped them with path-planning, collision-detecting and optimization algorithms. The crane models had the capacity of analyzing the geometrical information from given buildings, cranes and construction environments and for searching the safest and most efficient paths to erect a building. We also developed methods to coordinate multiple cranes in a continuously changing construction environment. The intelligent

References (40)

  • K. McKinney et al.

    Generating, evaluating and visualizing construction schedules with 4D-CAD tools

    Automation in Construction

    (1998)
  • C. Carter et al.

    Cost-effective steel building design

    Progress in Structural Engineering and Materials

    (2000)
  • Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries, Fatalities by Detail Occupation: Crane and Tower Crane Operators, [online]...
  • Crane Accident Statistics, Accident Reports Received for Year 2001, 2002, 2003., [online] Available at:...
  • A.C. Braam

    Crane Accidents Evaluating the Risk and Feasibility of Potential Practices to Eliminate/Reduce Future Occurrences

    (2002)
  • S. Furusaka et al.

    A model for the selection of the optimum crane for construction sites

    Construction Management & Economics

    (1984)
  • C. Gray et al.

    A systematic approach to the selection of an appropriate crane for a construction site

    Construction Management & Economics

    (1985)
  • C.W. Farrell et al.

    Computerized crane selection and placement for the construction site

  • C.W. Choi et al.

    A model for determining optimum crane position

  • C.M. Tam et al.

    Genetic algorithm for optimizing supply location around tower crane

    Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

    (2001)
  • P. Zhang et al.

    Location optimization for a group of tower cranes

    Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

    (1999)
  • W.T. Leung et al.

    Models for assessing hoisting times of tower cranes

    Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

    (1991)
  • H. Zhang et al.

    Application of fuzzy logic to simulation for construction operations

    Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering

    (2003)
  • C.M. Tam et al.

    Nonlinear models for predicting hoisting times of tower crane

    Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering

    (2002)
  • K. Lin et al.

    Multiple heavy lifts optimization

    Journal of Construction Engineering and Management

    (1996)
  • M.S. Ali et al.

    Collision free path planning of cooperative crane manipulators using genetic algorithm

    Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering

    (2005)
  • P.L. Sivakumar et al.

    Automated path planning of cooperative crane lifts using heuristic search

    Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering

    (2003)
  • S.C. Kang et al.

    Physics based model for simulating the dynamics of tower cranes

  • R.R. Lipman et al.

    Using VRML in construction industry applications

  • E. Amatucci et al.

    Summary of modeling and simulation for NIST RoboCrane applications

  • Cited by (121)

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    1

    Fax: +1 650 723 4450; Fax: +1 650 723 7514.

    View full text