A System Architecture Framework for BIM-to-Robot Information Exchange in Construction

The adoption of robotics in construction has progressed more slowly than in many other sectors. Building information models (BIMs) contain information that can support construction robotics, while robots require task-specific project data, such as geometry, location, material, sequence, and operating constraints, that may not be readily available in a directly usable form. This study proposes a conceptually integrated system architecture for BIM-to-robot information exchange comprising Task Planning, Task Decomposition, and anticipated Robot Task Execution linked by two information exchanges. A 20-concrete-masonry-unit (CMU) wall case study demonstrates selected information-preparation and documentation portions of the architecture. A low-LOD Revit wall was decomposed into individual CMUs using Dynamo, and component location (X, Y, Z, and orientation), material type, and identification (I.D.) information were extracted and formatted as robot-oriented task information. Because the available robotic platform lacked manipulation capability, a human worker interpreted the exported task information and constructed the wall, while a Husky A200 robot collected site images for dense point-cloud reconstruction. The reconstruction was superimposed on the source Revit model to qualitatively assess consistency between the constructed wall and the intended BIM-derived layout. The case study therefore demonstrates BIM-derived information generation and extraction, worker interpretation and use of the task information, and robot-assisted documentation, but it does not verify autonomous robotic construction. The primary contribution is the architectural integration of prior information-exchange and parametric-modeling methods across the end-to-end BIM-to-robot workflow, including explicit information requirements and exchange points; the term end-to-end refers to architectural scope rather than end-to-end experimental validation.