PhD-CD Doctoral Proposal Presentation: Vina Wei
Title: Orchestrating Heterogeneous Multi-Robot Construction: A Human Factored Collaboration Framework
Name: Vina Wei, Ph.D. candidate in Computational Design (PhD-CD)
Date: Thursday, January 22, 2026
Time: 2:300-4:30pm ET
Location: Remote on Zoom
Dissertation Committee:
Joshua Bard (Advisor & Co-Chair)
Associate Professor
School of Architecture
Carnegie Mellon University
Dr. Daniel Cardoso Llach (Advisor & Co-Chair)
Associate Professor
School of Architecture
Carnegie Mellon University
Dr. Jiaoyang Li (External Advisor)
Assistant Professor
Robotics Institute
Carnegie Mellon University
Abstract:
The future of construction robotics will be shaped by heterogeneous robots that share dense, evolving construction sites while collaborating with human workers. Yet the research domains that ground this cross-disciplinary study remain loosely connected. Current construction robotics deployments still focus mostly on isolated work cells, relying heavily on arbitrary protection separation distances (PSD) that discourage close-proximity collaboration, while multi-robot planners consider less human intrusion, treating humans only as moving obstacles rather than decentralized agents with explicit rights and intentions. This thesis proposal states: The integration of heterogeneous robot fleets in future architectural construction requires systems to treat on-site humans as first-class participants in the workflow, by scrutinizing their communication and interventions as explicit spatio-temporal constraints. So that task feasibility and production-level efficiency can be achieved simultaneously while complying with human safety. It proposes delivering an MRS TAMP Orchestration framework that adheres to the Right-of-Way Policy (RoW), which defines yielding principles for active construction sites. It echoes Asimov’s” laws of robotics” as a literary archetype of moral agency in human priority. In this framework, the planning stack and tasks are configured differently for heavy industrial robots and mobile assistive manipulators, each tailored to its respective advantages. The framework will be investigated through two parallel tracks: 1. Physical prototyping (WG-A): a full-scale frame structure prototype with secondary finishes to understand empirical parameters for the framework. A large industrial arm assembles primary structural elements, and a mobile robot performs secondary or surface finishing, while human workers assist with dexterous tasks and introduce natural perturbations that ask robots to yield and replan. 2. Scalable simulation (WG-B) track that explores a broader range of layouts, task graphs, and disturbance patterns. In evaluation, safety is assessed through separation statistics and RoWC compliance. Productivity and flow are measured quantitatively by prototype execution, conflict rates, and throughputs. The thesis aims to make three long-term contributions. First, it will provide a physical implementation of cross-scale studies of multi-agent collaboration in frame assembly and finishing. Second, it delivers a transferable Right-of-Way Orchestration for multiple robot types with different hierarchies and tolerance to human perturbation. Third, it provides a human-aware autonomy that is both ethically sound and practical. In doing so, the thesis sketches a general template for how robots should move through human environments in other domains as well: coordinated with one another, guided by structured task graphs, and always comply to human Right-of-Way.