CRITICAL ENGINEERING CHARACTERISTICS OF AN AUTOMATED PULLING MACHINE FOR IMPROVING SAFETY IN CONSTRUCTING STEEL BEAM AND GIRDER HAVING IMPROVED SHAPE

摘要

Recently, the construction industry has been faced with the problem of a lack of skilled labor. A robot-based construction automation system has been developed to overcome critical difficulties which may be caused by this lack of skilled labor. In one of this system's element technologies, the column-bracket and girder joint was developed in 2009. This joint improved productivity and safety, but it required workers to pull a guiding rope in situations where a girder was positioned over their heads. This could cause workers to suffer serious accidents. In order to solve this dangerous situation, it is vital to develop an automated pulling machine for guiding the steel beam and girder. In the design stage, quality function deployment (QFD) is applied as a systematic aid in determining a design that reflects customer's needs. This study employs the QFD approach to extract critical engineering characteristics reflecting experienced workers' requirements. As a result, the study identifies the developers' design requirements for automating machinery which can install a steel beam and girder having an improved shape, and weighs them according to their importance.