Human-robot cooperation technology an ideal midway solution heading toward the future of robotics and automation in construction

The current construction industry has different environmental characteristics compared to other industries. Problems such as the instability of labor force demand and supply and the increasing labor costs are surfacing. Thus, in response to a high growth rate of the construction market, it is advisable to lower the level of labor force dependence and increase efficiency by applying a specialized automation in a construction site for improving its productivity. Currently, a construction automation robot is being developed mainly as a professional service robot. The majority of its abilities rely on the human's control skill and its level of recognizing the external environment is also inadequate. It is therefore inappropriate to say that the complete and fully automation in construction is accomplished. A high level of environmental cognitive skill and such as the same level of human ability in judging the situation are needed at construction sites in order to accomplish complete automation. It is expected that in the future, the automation and robotics in construction would be replaced with robots having artificial intelligence similar to that of humans. However, the current level of technology cannot meet the specifications yet, it is appropriate to utilize the Human-Robot Cooperation (HRC) technology as an alternative to the current and future vision of robotics and automation in construction. The HRC allows a high efficiency at the present automation level because it uses both advantages of humans who have a remarkable set of nervous system and of robots which functions at a superior physical ability