Towards Human–Robot Collaboration in Construction: Understanding Brickwork Production Rate Factors

Abstract

This study explores the critical determinants impacting labor productivity in brickwork operations within the construction industry—a matter of academic and practical significance, particularly in the era of increasing human–robot collaboration. Through an extensive literature review on construction labor productivity, this study identifies factors affecting brickwork productivity. Data were collected from active construction sites during brick wall construction through on-site measurements and participatory observation, and the relative importance of these factors is determined using Principal Component Analysis (PCA)-factor analysis. The validity of the analysis is established through the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) test and Bartlett’s test of sphericity, with a KMO value of 0.544 and significance at the 0.05 significance level. The analysis reveals four principal components explaining 75.96% of the total variance. Notably, this study identifies the Euclidean distances for the top factors: weather (0.980), number of helpers (0.965), mason competency (0.934), and number of masons (0.772). Additionally, correlation coefficients were observed: wall area had the highest correlation (0.998), followed by wall length (0.853) and height (0.776). Interestingly, high correlations did not necessarily translate to high factor importance. These identified factors can serve as a foundation for predictive modeling algorithms for estimating production rates and as a guideline for optimizing labor in construction planning and scheduling, particularly in the context of human–robot collaboration.