Author: Eduardo Costa
Last week was an eventful one! UWE hosted two events focusing on future directions of research and innovation. The first one was UWE’s Festival of Research, which brought colleagues from across the University together for inspiring talks, dynamic lightning presentations, eye-catching showcases, and a vibrant expo filled with interactive displays. The second one was Digital Construction and Artificial Intelligence: Who’s in Control? Organised by the amazing staff in the MSc BIM, and proudly sponsored by CABER, it brought together industry and academia to explore the opportunities, challenges, and future direction of AI in the built environment.
In both events, I had the pleasure to talk about a project I have recently started developing called CENTHAUR, an acronym for “human-centred, industry-informed human-robot collaboration for assembly-based timber construction”.
The CENTHAUR project
The CENTHAUR project stems from the understanding that current automation, enabled by advances in robotics, artificial intelligence and immersive technologies, is transforming many industrial sectors and has been widely framed as the fourth industrial revolution. Construction is increasingly following this trajectory, with robotic systems demonstrating benefits in precision, quality and productivity across both academic research and industry (Parascho, 2023; M. Tehrani, BuHamdan and Alwisy, 2022). In particular, mobile robots have shown strong potential in addressing the dynamic and unpredictable environments typical of construction settings (Dörfler et al., 2016).
Despite these advantages, adoption of automation in construction has raised concerns regarding workforce displacement, unemployment and wage inequality (García de Soto et al., 2022). Moreover, approaches centred on full automation risk overlooking the complementary strengths of humans and machines. While robots excel at repetitive, hazardous or highly precise tasks, they often lack the contextual judgement, adaptability and holistic understanding that skilled workers routinely deploy on site (Parascho, 2023).
Human-Robot Collaboration (HRC) offers an alternative paradigm in which robotic accuracy is combined with human cognitive, embodied and experiential knowledge. Such approaches help preserve the cultural and social richness of construction labour, including tacit knowledge, craft traditions and the situated interplay between humans, tools and materials (Mitterberger and Dörfler, 2024). Assembly-based construction processes such as bricklaying, masonry, metallic frame structures and timber structures provide a relevant testbed for this paradigm, aligning with circular construction through its potential for disassembly and reuse (Yang et al., 2024). Timber is particularly relevant for being lightweight and sustainable, but also inherently variable: elements that share identical geometry can differ significantly in internal properties, introducing uncertainty that remains difficult to fully capture through digital models alone.
While existing HRC research in timber construction has predominantly focused on bespoke prototypes and experimental demonstrations, there remains a need to investigate scalable and industry‑relevant applications, particularly in offsite contexts. Offsite timber construction combines high levels of prefabrication with tight production tolerances, making it an ideal domain for exploring how robotic systems and human expertise can be productively integrated.
The project addresses this gap by developing and evaluating an integrated HRC framework specifically tailored to offsite, assembly‑based timber construction. The proposed solution centres on three components. First, it establishes a technological framework that integrates parametric design workflows, mobile robotics, extended reality (XR) interfaces and motion capture systems. Second, the framework is grounded in an empirical understanding of industrial practice. Through engagement with industry partners, resulting insights inform the configuration of collaborative robotic tasks and interaction protocols, ensuring that the proposed system responds to real operational conditions rather than idealised laboratory assumptions. Third, the research adopts an observational and iterative approach to evaluating collaboration itself. Human-robot interactions are analysed to assess engagement, spatial accuracy and task coordination.
Technological framework
At the current stage of the CENTHAUR project, we’re exploring the potential of the technological framework, experimenting with how to connect various hardware and software components into an integrated prototype that enables HRC within a lab environment.
To this point, we have been focusing in two main tasks: the first is connecting a robotic arm to a Computational Design system, in which timber structures can be virtually designed and planned, thus ensuring that the robot supports the construction of the designed structure, as well as adapt to events during the construction process. The second task of the framework has been focusing on connecting the Design System with an Immersive Environment, currently composed of a Motion Capture system which enhances the precision of the whole system by mapping the physical and virtual models of the timber structure. Next steps include the integration of an Augmented Reality headset, which will enable human collaborators to better engage in the construction process, and a mobility solution comprising a linear rail, extending the reach of the robotic arm in the construction site.
This is the very first stage towards the exploration of HRC workflows in a lab environment. However, the vision is to start enquiring such workflows as soon as possible with the help of industry partners working with timber. Their insights on the potential of such approaches will be crucial to keep the project relevant and impactful in keeping the AEC sector up to speed in terms of technology, while keeping humans in the loop.
If you want to know more about CENTHAUR, check out the project page in the CABER website, or get in touch via email via Eduardo.Costa@uwe.ac.uk. The CENTHAUR project is being developed with the generous financial support from the Centre for Advanced Build Environment Research, and in collaboration with The Bridge Studios, namely with technical support from the amazing Technical Specialists James Knight (for robotics) and Michelle Wu (for immersive). Thank you all!
References
Dörfler, K., Sandy, T., Giftthaler, M., Gramazio, F., Kohler, M. and Buchli, J. (2016) Mobile Robotic Brickwork. Robotic Fabrication in Architecture, Art and Design 2016 [online]. pp. 204–217. Available from: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-26378-6_15 [Accessed 14 January 2025].
García de Soto, B., Agustí-Juan, I., Joss, S. and Hunhevicz, J. (2022) Implications of Construction 4.0 to the workforce and organizational structures. International Journal of Construction Management [online]. 22 (2), pp. 205–217. Available from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/15623599.2019.1616414 [Accessed 13 January 2025].
M. Tehrani, B., BuHamdan, S. and Alwisy, A. (2022) Robotics in assembly-based industrialized construction: a narrative review and a look forward. International Journal of Intelligent Robotics and Applications 2022 7:3 [online]. 7 (3), pp. 556–574. Available from: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s41315-022-00257-9 [Accessed 14 October 2024].
Mitterberger, D. and Dörfler, K. (2024) Rethinking Digital Construction: A Collaborative Future of Humans, Machines and Craft. Architectural Design [online]. 94 (5), pp. 108–117. Available from: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/ad.3103 [Accessed 2 July 2025].
Parascho, S. (2023) Construction Robotics: From Automation to Collaboration. Annual Review of Control, Robotics, and Autonomous Systems [online]. 6 (Volume 6, 2023), pp. 183–204. Available from: https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-control-080122-090049 [Accessed 14 October 2024].
Yang, X., Amtsberg, F., Sedlmair, M. and Menges, A. (2024) Challenges and potential for human–robot collaboration in timber prefabrication. Automation in Construction [online]. 160, p. 105333. Available from: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0926580524000694 [Accessed 11 October 2024].