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Experimental mobile robot at a construction workface, with installation guidance projected onto the wall.

Toward Agentic Robot Foremen

Extending Construction Supervision Through Agentic Robotics

We envision agentic robots that assist construction superintendents by interpreting field tasks, guiding workers, verifying work quality, and reporting field conditions.

01 — The Problem & Rationale

The Problem

Construction Supervision Is Constrained by Time and Physical Presence.

Superintendents oversee multiple crews and work areas, while timely field guidance and quality checks still depend heavily on human availability.

Our Rationale

Extend the Reach of Superintendents with Agentic Robot Foremen.

Agentic robots can provide on-demand field guidance, assess work quality, and report findings to superintendents—while keeping human supervisors in control.

02 — Our Approach

From Task Understanding to Field Action and Verification

We investigate an agentic robotic framework that connects construction information, physical field assistance, and quality feedback.

Understand → Act → Verify → Report

  1. Understand the Task

    Interpret field requests and retrieve relevant information from BIM.

  2. Act at the Workface

    Navigate to the work area and project spatial guidance for workers.

  3. Verify the Work

    Assess visual evidence against design requirements and identify potential discrepancies.

  4. Report to the Superintendent

    Document field observations and flag issues for supervisory review.

Our mobile prototype implements this framework through global deployment and local workface calibration.

Two-stage mobile prototype workflow: global deployment to the requested workface, followed by local workface calibration for spatial guidance.
Global Deployment: Navigate to the requested workface and orient the camera–projector.
Local Calibration: Establish the projector-to-wall mapping for spatial guidance.

Platform Extension

A quadruped-based concept demonstration of mobile workface guidance.

03 — Prototype & Validation

Demonstrating Agentic Field Assistance Through Construction Layout

Our initial prototype integrates BIM-grounded task interpretation, robotic deployment, spatial projection, and visual quality assessment.

Robot foreman concept: a vision-language-action model connects a wheeled mobile robot and a quadruped robot with projected spatial guidance at the workface.

Five A — Design Objectives

Acceptability
Built to assist, not replace.
Accessibility
Guidance available at the workface.
Affordability
Potential for scalable on-demand assistance.
Adaptability
Designed to support existing field workflows.
Agency
Interprets field requests and supports on-site action.
Fixed-View ProjectionMean radial placement error across 25 trials at 5 locations.
3.87 mm
Mobile RepositioningMean projected-center error across 9 runs in 3 wall regions.
1.61 ± 0.77 mm
Visual QA/QCExpected visual decisions matched in controlled tests.
15/15

These results demonstrate individual field-assistance capabilities under controlled experimental conditions.

04 — Our Vision

From Task-Specific Robots to Agentic Robot Foremen

We envision agentic robot foremen that support diverse construction tasks, assist field workers, monitor work quality, and report actionable information to superintendents.

Human-Led Supervision. Robot-Enabled Field Assistance.