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Labor shortage and low labor productivity are critical issues in the construction industry. Robotics, as a powerful technology to improve productivity in the digitization era, is being used to assist in addressing these problems. Particularly in recent years, interest in construction robotics research has risen remarkably. To gain a deeper understanding of this burgeoning research field, this study provides a bibliometric analysis of 498 related papers retrieved from WoS (Web of Science). Performance analysis and science mapping were used in the paper to identify the research trends, relationship among authors, top publication sources, regional activities, as well as knowledge base and dominant research sub-fields. The results indicated that the number of papers focusing on construction robotics has been continuously growing since 2013. "Automation," "system," and "design" have been the most addressed topics in construction robotics. The findings are indicative of identifying the deficiencies in existing research and provide directions for future research. Those include greater attention paid to the experimental results of on-site construction robots, while ignoring the impacts of practical construction situations, and the development of off-site construction robots needs more support. For theoretical research, there is a lack of studies on human–robot collaboration workflow and management models. Therefore, the study would be valuable in providing practitioners and researchers with a better perspective on the development of construction robotics and facilitating the building of the intellectual wealth of robotics in the construction industry. Our study analyzed 498 papers related to construction robotics from 1974 to 2022 through bibliometric approaches (mathematical and statistical methods). The study counted the numbers of construction robotics papers by year, identified most active scholars and top publication sources, and analyzed the relationship among regions. Most importantly, the paper identified the knowledge base of the research field of construction robotics and reviewed various relevant studies from theoretical and practical application perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, the ability of resource treatment of black smelly river sediment to reduce life-cycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and its environmental benefits were calculated using the US EPA life-cycle assessment (LCA) model. Different from previous studies, this paper used the willingness-to-pay method to determine the weight factors of various environmental impact types in this study and proposed a calculation model of carbon emissions and environmental benefits in the whole process of resource utilization of sediment, rather than a new method to treat black smelly river sediment. Take the Qingxi River sediment treatment and recycling project in Dongguan, China, as an example: the carbon reduction, environmental impact, and environmental benefit of different stages of sediment treatment are calculated. The results show that 93.419 kg of carbon dioxide, 0.202 kg of methane, and 0.001 kg of nitrous oxide are produced for 1 t of river sediment, in which the preparation process of unburned brick contributes 99% of carbon dioxide, 82.67% of methane, and 100% of nitrous oxide emissions and is the stage that produces the most greenhouse gases. The 1 t of sediment resource treatment can reduce the generation of 29.066 kg carbon dioxide and 0.855 kg of methane. The comprehensive net environmental benefit of processing 1 t of river sediment is 1.492 yuan, and the environmental benefit is 1.684 times the environmental cost. This study identified that the treatment and recycling of river sediment has better environmental benefits. The preparation process of unburned brick can be optimized to further reduce carbon emissions and produce better environmental benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]