Robots expanding limits of mega projects

At the vast construction site of Shanghai Pudong International Airport's Terminal 3, a group of construction robots is racing against the clock alongside human workers — the ideal choice for carrying out repetitive, efficiency-intensive, and hazardous tasks.

As the first large-scale application of robots in civil aviation infrastructure construction, their deployment highlights the significance of intelligent manufacturing and smart construction in building mega projects, experts said.

Consisting of 37 types of robots with different functions, they are under the command of a unified "brain" known as a construction robot cluster management system. It is the first application of such a system in a large aviation project.

Tang Shengling, senior consulting adviser at the Shanghai Artificial Intelligence Research Institute's digital economy research center, said the use of robots in the airport construction project is a significant step.

"The landmark application of clustered and systematic construction robots will provide a replicable Chinese model for the development of intelligent robotics and the smart upgrading of the construction industry," Tang said.