Digital Automated Systems

The Construction site of the future

At the Center Construction Robotics, an interdisciplinary team of scientists from RWTH Aachen University collaborates with a European industry consortium to research the construction site of the future. In concrete terms, what does this mean? For the theoretical and practical cooperation of science, industry, politics, and associations, RWTH Aachen University has provided the Center Construction Robotics with a 4,000 square meter area as a learning and teaching platform. This reference construction site serves simultaneously as a think tank and a living lab. Here, new construction processes, construction products, networked machines, the use of robots, software solutions as well as teaching, working, and communication concepts are tested under real construction site conditions.

The reference construction site was initially located at Campus West in February 2020 and has now been transferred to Campus Melaten after more than two years in September 2022: It is now located right in the heart of the 5G Industry Campus Europe and is part of the research infrastructure for validating 5G in production. More information about the reference site can be found here.

Picture: New reference site at Campus Melaten

Picture: Former reference site Campus West

Picture: Putting theory in praxis

The knowledge of the future

With its foundation of the Center Construction Robotics, the Chair of Individualized Construction Production headed by Prof. Dr. Sigrid Brell-Cokcan has launched the international Master’s program in Construction & Robotics (cr.rwth-aachen.de). The students who apply here currently come from more than 40 countries around the world and have bachelor’s degrees in the disciplines of mechanical engineering, computer science, civil engineering, or architecture. In the Construction & Robotics master’s program, they not only learn and research theoretically but can also put their knowledge and research findings into practice directly on the construction site of the future in collaboration with the international science team and European industry partners.

Our Community

The Construction Robotics Center in Aachen offers its members a community dedicated to jointly addressing the challenges of digitization.

Spanning a wide range of disciplines, we work together with a consortium of industrial companies. Through the mutual exchange and commitment of each individual, we want to create a trustful foundation for sustainable and interdisciplinary cooperation.  It is our mission to practice new forms of interdisciplinary cooperation and to network our community of users, enablers and technology suppliers along the construction value chain.

Regular working meetings are held between members from industry and renowned researchers from RWTH Aachen University. Our members therefore not only remain informed about current research, but also community-building measures can be initiated directly in the center.

In addition to the frequent exchange of information as well as the consortial research and development projects, our members also benefit from new training offers and initiatives regarding the development of new standards for digital construction. The digitization of construction requires not only new technologies, but also qualified employees for safe work on buildings.

Picture: Members of the Center Construction Robotics

Picture: Members’ Conference

Our members play a key role in shaping the center’s offerings. For example, our current members are represented on the Industrial Advisory Board of the new transdisciplinary Master’s Program “Construction and Robotics” at RWTH Aachen University and ensure a forward-looking education in a university environment.