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The paper aims to raise awareness in the industry of design automation tools, especially in early design phases, by demonstrating along a case study the seamless integration of a prototypically implemented optimization, supporting design space exploration in the early design phase and an in operational use product configurator, supporting the drafting and detailing of the solution predominantly in the later design phase.

Based on the comparison of modeled as-is and to-be processes of ascent assembly designs with and without design automation tools, an automation roadmap is developed. Using qualitative and quantitative assessments, the potentials and benefits, as well as acceptance and usage aspects, are evaluated.

Engineers tend to consider design automation for routine tasks. Yet, prototypical implementations support the communication and identification of the potential for the early stages of the design process to explore solution spaces. In this context, choosing from and interactively working with automatically generated alternative solutions emerged as a particular focus. Translators, enabling automatic downstream propagation of changes and thus ensuring consistency as to change management were also evaluated to be of major value.

A systematic validation of design automation in design practice is presented. For generalization, more case studies are needed. Further, the derivation of appropriate metrics needs to be investigated to normalize validation of design automation in future research.

Integration of design automation in early design phases has great potential for reducing costs in the market launch. Prototypical implementations are an important ingredient for potential evaluation of actual usage and acceptance before implementing a live system.

There is a lack of systematic validation of design automation tools supporting early design phases. In this context, this work contributes a systematically validated industrial case study. Early design-phases-support technology transfer is important because of high leverage potential.

Sloping topographies in urban areas are often under-utilised due to complex designs and difficult access, resulting in low construction productivity and high cost. Automated construction techniques are usually limited to flat sites or lab spaces. This research combines concepts for automated and prefabricated construction with hillside dwelling design. It proposes a strategy to integrate both aspects and to equally inform design process and design output. The aims are to turn hillside access and construction automation into design generators, improve productivity and use more affordable hillside sites.

Analysis of typologies for hillside housing and automated construction techniques is used to derive principles and parameters to inform a strategy and generative script for setting out, volumetric disposition and access and using the topography as a design-generator. The output from the generative script and tool can then form the basis of a high-density, low-rise dwelling development suited for serial, automation-assisted construction. The strategy is tested on a case study site.

The typological analysis helps devising strategies for integrating construction robotics and design criteria for hillside housing. The generative script illustrates how a strategy is implemented and used in a design tool able to absorb varying input data, including topographies. This generates innovative, site-specific design outcomes, suited for a process that adapts contemporary construction automation techniques and allows for more efficient use of hillside sites.

This research builds on construction automation methods and proposes novel combinations and adaptations for use on hillside sites. It demonstrates how robotics and generative tools can inform early design stages.

The introduction of an automated library system brings changes in the working environment. If job design within the altered environment is not considered, the result can be employee apathy/hostility and the use of the system in unplanned ways. The idea of ‘good’ job design takes into account the needs of the individual as well as the organisational objectives. Automation also affects staff structures. This paper examines, by means of a literature survey carried out for a master's dissertation, the need for, and principles of, job design and the effects automation can have, and discusses the possible influences on staff structures.

The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize archetypes of engineer-to-order (ETO) to support companies in determining the appropriate degree of design standardization and automation, and as a result achieve superior performance. Products of ETO manufacturers are classified in a 2×2 matrix using annual units sold and engineering complexity as dimensions.

This research adopted a theory refining approach based on multiple case studies. Seven ETO manufacturers from different industry sectors participated in the study. Data collection was primarily based on a series of in-depth interviews supported by observations and archival sources.

The paper proposes four distinct archetypes of ETO (complex, basic, repeatable, and non-competitive) and empirically validates three of them. The organizational structures and processes most suitable for the different archetypes are described, and standardization and automation strategies are linked to the quadrants of the matrix. The matrix can support practitioners in making strategic choices and provides a framework for benchmarking their ETO products and processes.

Existing conceptualizations of ETO consider the company as the primary object of investigation, rather than the product or product family. However, companies often have different product families demanding different strategies. Also, there is little or no focus on the engineering perspective. The authors move the engineering perspective to the center of investigation and identify a set of standardization and automation strategies for different types of ETO products.

The paper aims to discuss the importance of considering both the physical and cognitive automation when aiming for a flexible or reconfigurable assembly system. This is done in order to handle the increased demand for mass customized production and to maintain or improve the social sustainability within the company.

The methodologies used in this paper are a theoretical review about task allocation and levels of automation and a methodology called DYNAMO++ for the industrial case studies.

The paper provides both theoretical and empirical insights about the importance of considering both the cognitive and physical automation when aiming for a reconfigurable assembly system.

The paper will only discuss the cognitive strategy from a social sustainability perspective and not from an economical or environmental angle.

The paper presents data from three industrial case studies, mostly in the automotive industry. The result points towards a need for a more structured and quantitative method when choosing automation solutions, furthermore an increased use of cognitive automation solution.

The results from the case studies show that when the complexity and variety of products increases, a cognitive support for the operators is needed. This strengthens the theory of a need for a cognitive automation strategy within companies.

The paper demonstrates an advance in the state of the art in task allocation. The concept model and the DYNAMO++ method can be seen as a step closer towards quantitative measures of task allocation (i.e. changes in both physical and cognitive LoA) and dynamic changes over time.

The paper aims to leverage the importance of the integrated automatic structural design for tall buildings at the early stage. It proposes to use an automatic prototype to perform the structural design, analysis and optimisation in a building information modelling (BIM)-based platform. This process starts with extracting the required information from the architectural model in Revit Autodesk, such as boundary conditions and designs different options of the structural models in Robot Autodesk. In this process, Dynamo for Revit is used to define the mathematical functions to use different variables and generate various structural models. The paper aims to expand the domain of automation in the BIM platform to reduce the iterative process in different areas such as conceptual structural design and collaboration between architects and structural engineers to reduce the time and cost at the early stages.

The paper begins with an exploratory research by adopting a qualitative methodology and using open-ended questions to achieve more information about the phenomenon of automation and interoperability between structural engineers and architects and gain new insight into this area. Furthermore, correlation research is used by adopting quantitative and short questions to compare the proposed prototype with the traditional process of the structural design and optimisation and the interoperability between architects and engineers and consequently, validate the research.

As an outcome of the research, a structural design optimisation (SDO) prototype was developed to semi-automate the structural design process of tall buildings at the early stages. Moreover, the proposed prototype can be used during the early stage of structural design in different areas such as residential buildings, bridges, truss, reinforced concrete detailing, etc. Moreover, comprehensive literature regarding using automation in structural design, optimisation process and interoperability between architects and engineers is conducted that provides a new insight to contribute to future research and development.

Due to the time limit, the paper results may lack in a comprehensive automatic structural design process. Therefore, the researchers are encouraged to expand the workability of the prototype for a comprehensive automatic design check such as automatic design for the minimum deflection, displacement of different types of buildings.

The prototype includes implications for the development of different automatic designs.

The focus of this paper is the optimisation of the structural design in the BIM platform by using automation. This combination is one of the novelties of this paper, and the existing literature has a very limited amount of information and similar work in this area, especially interoperability between architects and engineers.

Discusses the business strategies and technologies required for the succesful implementation of automation, with particular emphasis on the assembly of miniature components and fibre optic manufacturing systems.

The integration and automation of the whole design and implementation process have become a pivotal factor in construction projects. Problems of process integration, particularly at the conceptual design stage, often manifest through a number of significant areas, from design representation, cognition and translation to process fragmentation and loss of design integrity. Whilst building information modelling (BIM) applications can be used to support design automation, particularly through the modelling, amendment and management stages, they do not explicitly provide whole design integration. This is a significant challenge. However, advances in generative design now offer significant potential for enhancing the design experience to mitigate this challenge.

The approach outlined in this paper specifically addresses BIM deficiencies at the conceptual design stage, where the core drivers and indicators of BIM and generative design are identified and mapped into a generative BIM (G-BIM) framework and subsequently embedded into a G-BIM prototype. This actively engages generative design methods into a single dynamic BIM environment to support the early conceptual design process. The developed prototype followed the CIFE “horseshoe” methodology of aligning theoretical research with scientific methods to procure architecture, construction and engineering (AEC)-based solutions. This G-BIM prototype was also tested and validated through a focus group workshop engaging five AEC domain experts.

The G-BIM prototype presents a valuable set of rubrics to support the conceptual design stage using generative design. It benefits from the advanced features of BIM tools in relation to illustration and collaboration (coupled with BIM's parametric change management features).

This prototype has been evaluated through multiple projects and scenarios. However, additional test data is needed to further improve system veracity using conventional and non-standard real-life design settings (and contexts). This will be reported in later works.

Originality and value rest with addressing the shortcomings of previous research on automation during the design process. It also addresses novel computational issues relating to the implementation of generative design systems, where, for example, instead of engaging static and formal description of the domain concepts, G-BIM actively enhances the applicability of BIM during the early design stages to generate optimised (and more purposeful) design solutions.

Many economic, political and socio-cultural events in the 2020s have been strong headwinds for architecture, engineering and construction (AEC). Nevertheless, technological advancements (e.g. artificial intelligence (AI), big data and robotics) provide promising avenues for the development of AEC. This study aims to map the state of the literature on automation in AEC and thereby be of value not only to those researching automation and its composition of a variety of distinct technological and system classes within AEC, but also to practitioners and policymakers in shaping the future of AEC.

This review adopts scientometric methods, which have been effective in the research of large intra and interdisciplinary domains in the past decades. The full dataset consists of 1,871 articles on automation in AEC.

This overarching scientometric review offers three interdisciplinary streams of research: technological frontiers, project monitoring and applied research in AEC. To support the scientometric analysis, the authors offer a critical integrative review of the literature to proffer a multilevel, multistage framework of automation in AEC, which demonstrates an abundance of technological paradigm discussions and the inherent need for a holistic managerial approach to automation in AEC.

The authors underline employee well-being, business sustainability and social growth outcomes of automation and provide several managerial implications, such as the strategic management approach, ethical management view and human resource management perspective. In doing so, the authors seek to respond to the Sustainable Development Goals proposed by the United Nations as this becomes more prevalent for the industry and all levels of society in general.

This paper aims to review recent research in design for additive manufacturing (DfAM), including additive manufacturing (AM) terminology, trends, methods, classification of DfAM methods and software. The focus is on the design engineer’s role in the DfAM process and includes which design methods and tools exist to aid the design process. This includes methods, guidelines and software to achieve design optimization and in further steps to increase the level of design automation for metal AM techniques. The research has a special interest in structural optimization and the coupling between topology optimization and AM.

The method used in the review consists of six rounds in which literature was sequentially collected, sorted and removed. Full presentation of the method used could be found in the paper.

Existing DfAM research has been divided into three main groups – component, part and process design – and based on the review of existing DfAM methods, a proposal for a DfAM process has been compiled. Design support suitable for use by design engineers is linked to each step in the compiled DfAM process. Finally, the review suggests a possible new DfAM process that allows a higher degree of design automation than today’s process. Furthermore, research areas that need to be further developed to achieve this framework are pointed out.

The review maps existing research in design for additive manufacturing and compiles a proposed design method. For each step in the proposed method, existing methods and software are coupled. This type of overall methodology with connecting methods and software did not exist before. The work also contributes with a discussion regarding future design process and automation.