Acquisition of this equipment will improve the quality and broaden the scope of two major National Science Foundation research grants presently in progress (grant MSM-8615187--subcontract portion to Professor Halpin, and MSM-8657142--Presidential Investigator grant to Professor Skibniewski). The overall goal of the research is to study the adaptability of high technology to today's construction processes. This will be accomplished by studying the flexibility of certain construction operations to modification. The proposed equipment provides the opportunity to emulate automated data acquisition systems, fixed and semi-fixed flexible manufacturing systems, automated quality control and automated material management in simulated real world conditions.
