Design of an Interior Finishing Robot with a Simulation Model

Introduction Four generic types of construction robots have been suggested in [4]. They were an assembling robot, an interior finishing robot, an exterior wall finishing robot, and a horizontal floor finishing robot. The interior finishing robot, as explained there, was designated to execute various interior finishing operations, such as partition erection, painting, plastering, jointing, taping, etc., from static work stations. The performance specifications for this robot, and its preliminary design, were described in [3]. The preliminary design assumed a jointed configuration of the robot and dimensions which allowed the robot to perform its task _ from a single work station in a typical space of residential building. A more rigorous analysis of the desired configuration of a general purpose interior finishing robot was necessary in order to evaluate also alternative configurations of the robot's arm, its reach and performance of its joints. Such analysis was performed with the aid of graphic simulation and is described in the following paper.