Xiliu Yang with her doctoral hat and the doctoral committee

Xiliu Yang defended her doctoral dissertation with distinction

February 18, 2026 /
IntCDC

ICD

On Nov 12, 2025, Xiliu Yang defended her doctoral research titled "Augmented Industrial Human-robot Collaboration: A Human-centred Approach for Robotic Timber Construction with Augmented Reality" in front of the doctoral committee. The doctoral committee consisted of Prof. Thomas Wortmann (ICD-CA) as chair, Prof. Achim Menges (ICD) as supervisor and first examiner, and Prof. Michael Sedlmair (VISUS) as second examiner.

Congratulations to Xiliu Yang on her outstanding achievement!

Xiliu Yang with her doctoral hat and the doctoral committee

Abstract of Doctoral Research

Industrial building prefabrication is often characterised by high levels of automation, with technical processes that involve minimal interaction with the skills of craft workers on production sites. Human-robot collaboration (HRC) offers a means to integrate the complementary capabilities of humans and robots, enabling the design of collaborative processes that are both more flexible and socially sustainable. However, adopting HRC in building prefabrication presents a number of challenges, including the use of high-payload robots that are not designed for close interaction, and the need to interface with construction workers who bring extensive tacit knowledge but are typically untrained in robot control. 

This dissertation presents a conceptual and technical framework for HRC in timber prefabrication, leveraging head-mounted augmented reality displays (AR HMDs) for information delivery and interaction. It proposes methods to design, implement, and evaluate these AR-based HRC workflows, grounded in a human-centred design approach that involved trained carpenters throughout the research process. These developments are accompanied by empirical studies that shed light on craftspeople-technology interactions in timber construction, providing insights for future design and deployment of these technologies in the field. 

Situated in the context of human-centric production systems and fabrication co-design, this thesis contributes an integrative and human-centred perspective on AR-based human-robot collaboration in timber construction. By integrating human-, system-, and design-oriented considerations, it formulates a holistic design approach to advancing the integration of humans and robots in future construction practices.

Papers of which the dissertation consisted 

    1. Yang, X., Amtsberg, F., Sedlmair, M., & Menges, A. (2024). Challenges and potential for human–robot collaboration in timber prefabrication. Automation in Construction, 160, 105333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2024.105333
    2. Yang, X., Amtsberg, F., Kaiser, B., Skoury, L., Stark, T., Treml, S., Opgenorth, N., Sousa Calepso, A., Sedlmair, M., Wortmann, T., Verl, A., & Menges, A. (2025). An implementation and evaluation of large-scale multi-user human–robot collaboration with head-mounted augmented reality. Advanced Engineering Informatics, 67, 103475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aei.2025.103475
    3. Yang, X., Sasikumar, P., Amtsberg, F., Menges, A., Sedlmair, M., & Nanayakkara, S. (2025). Who is in Control? Understanding User Agency in AR-assisted Construction Assembly. Proceedings of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706598.3713765
    4. Yang, X., Sousa Calepso, A., Amtsberg, F., Menges, A., & Sedlmair, M. (2023). Usability Evaluation of an Augmented Reality System for Collaborative Fabrication between Multiple Humans and Industrial Robots. Proceedings of the 2023 ACM Symposium on Spatial User Interaction, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1145/3607822.3614528
    5. Yang, X., Pathmanathan, N., Zabel, S., Amtsberg, F., Otto, S., Kurzhals, K., Sedlmair, M., & Menges, A. (2025). Exploring the Use of Augmented Reality for Multi-human-robot Collaboration with Industry Users in Timber Construction. Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems. https://doi.org/10.1145/3706599.3720104
    6. Yang, X., Amtsberg, F., & Menges, A. (2025). Embracing failures: empowering user interventions in robotic prefabrication with augmented reality. Construction Robotics, 9, Article 2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41693-025-00157-x
    7. Yang, X., Amtsberg, F., Skoury, L., Wagner, H. J., & Menges, A. (2022). Vizor, Facilitating Cyber-physical Workflows in Prefabrication through Augmented Reality. CAADRIA Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.2022.2.141
    8. Pittiglio, A., Yang, X., Kladeftira, M., Amstberg, F., Menges, A., & Parascho, S. (2025). Augmented Human-Robot Collaborative Bending: Human-robot collaboration for biogenic material bending-active assemblies. Proceedings of the 30th International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) 2025, 2, 315–324.
    9. Aygün, D., Calepso, A. S., Yang, X., Menges, A., & Sedlmair, M. (2025). Mixing and Matching: Instruction Conveyance for Collaborative Tasks Using Asymmetric Augmented Reality Setups. 2025 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), 1072–1078. https://doi.org/10.1109/VRW66409.2025.00215
    10. Pathmanathan, N., Rau, T., Yang, X., Calepso, A. S., Amtsberg, F., Menges, A., Sedlmair, M., & Kurzhals, K. (2024). Eyes on the Task: Gaze Analysis of Situated Visualization for Collaborative Tasks. 2024 IEEE Conference Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces (VR), 785–795. https://doi.org/10.1109/VR58804.2024.00098
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