Knowledge Evolution in Construction Automation Research

Construction automation and robotics have been widely adopted in the construction industry as a promising solution to such issues like a shortage of skilled labor and the difficulties workers face in harsh working environments. The analysis of the knowledge structure and its evolution from the existing articles helps identify essential knowledge elements and possible future research directions. This study attempts to (1) construct keyword networks from the papers published in the International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC), (2) investigate how keywords and keyword communities are associated with each other, and (3) examine the changes in the crucial keywords over time. Through cluster analysis, 79 keywords were categorized into four groups (BIM, Building construction, Sensing, and GPS as representative keywords) with similar structural positions. Research trends show that research themes related to Infrastructure, Construction equipment, and 3D have consistently received a large amount of attention, regardless of geographical region. Research on as-built status model utilization through BIM and Laser scanning and improving Energy performance is taking place more frequently. In contrast, research studies related to problem-solving based on Neural networks are not as common as previously. This study provides useful insights into the construction automation field, at both the macro and micro levels.