Computer Vision-Based Progress Monitoring and Deviation Detection in Robotic Construction Operations
Keywords:
robotic construction; computer vision; scan-to-BIM registration; progress monitoring; deviation detection; uncertainty-aware perceptionAbstract
Robotic construction operations require continuous awareness of what has been built and how far the as-built state departs from the intended design. Project-level monitoring systems based on periodic imagery, laser scans, or manual inspection are poorly matched to task-level control because they do not resolve element placement, occlusion, registration uncertainty, or tolerance violations at the pace of a robotic work cycle. This paper develops a methodological framework for computer vision-based progress monitoring and deviation detection in robotic construction operations. The framework couples robot pose, multi-view images, depth or point-cloud observations, and building information model element graphs within a shared coordinate representation. Element-level progress is inferred as a probabilistic state from visual and geometric evidence, while geometric deviation is treated separately as a registered residual against element-specific tolerances. A robust scan-to-model registration objective, a progress-evidence model, a tolerance-exceedance measure, a Bayesian temporal fusion rule, a cost-sensitive decision rule, and an active-view selection criterion are formulated. The central argument is that progress and conformity should not be conflated: absence of evidence for completion differs from evidence of geometric error, and temporal fusion plus viewpoint planning can reduce false alarms under occlusion and partial observability. The framework provides a technically testable basis for supervisory control, corrective robot action, and inspection planning in robotic construction.
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This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.