Journal of Information Technology in Construction
Journal of Information Technology in Construction
ITcon Vol. 31, pg. 1-21, http://www.itcon.org/2026/1
A planning schema of on-site construction robot operation
| DOI: | 10.36680/j.itcon.2026.001 | |
| submitted: | August 2025 | |
| published: | February 2026 | |
| editor(s): | Amor R | |
| authors: | Fangxiao Li, Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Architectural Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA fjl5160@psu.edu Tessa Beauchat, Project Engineer JE Dunn Construction, Kansas City, MO, USA tessanicoleb17@gmail.com Yuqing Hu, Assistant Professor Department of Architectural Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA yfh5204@psu.edu Robert Leicht, Professor Department of Architectural Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA rml167@psu.edu | |
| summary: | The technology development for construction is leading to a variety of construction robots that have been, and continue to be, developed and implemented. When planning robot operation on a construction site, a wide variety of information is needed to support their safe and effective deployment. However, few researchers have summarized and structured the required information for planning construction robots' on-site operation. Therefore, this study developed a schema for planning and operating construction robots. The schema contains the planning information needed for construction robots to operate on-site, and the information is structured to enable planners to collect and query the needed information when assessing robot implementation. This study used a systematic literature review to identify the information needed for robots’ construction work. The review focused on the information that users need in the case of operating the robot on site, and the description of that information. To validate the schema, the study interviewed industry experts experienced in deploying construction robots and testing the schema through a database to verify the scope of housed information and efficiency of information acquisition. The developed and validated construction robot schema has four categories, including physical properties, operational requirements, safety, and activity. There are 56 attributes housed in the schema with definitions, examples, and data types. The information in the schema can help construction teams and planners comprehend the configuration and function of the robot, which can facilitate planning operations or deploying robots to specific tasks. Future work will further improve the planning process by observing and recording the on-site operations of construction robots. | |
| keywords: | construction robots, data schema, construction work planning | |
| full text: | (PDF file, 0.78 MB) | |
| citation: | Li, F., Beauchat, T., Hu, Y., & Leich, R (2026). A planning schema of on-site construction robot operation. Journal of Information Technology in Construction (ITcon), 31, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.36680/j.itcon.2026.001 | |
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