ABSTRACT
Contemplating the future of technology in the built environment often conjures up visions of machines putting together complex structures. There are various examples of basic construction tasks being carried out by automated systems. Robots have been used for decades in brick factories, where the lifting required is heavy and the movement of large numbers of bricks is extremely repetitive. The use of parametric tools can be very exciting for designers and while the solutions they propose may seem to make perfect sense on the screen, they can often become impracticable when translated from the digital into the physical realm. Many people feel that the introduction of robots into construction may threaten the employment of human labourers, but some claim that the automation of processes tends to cause growth and increased employment overall. Not only was the robot capable of the necessary precision, it also laid bricks at a rate three times faster than an average human bricklayer.
