Exploring the Potential of AR Enabled Human-Robot Collaboration for Circular Construction in Civil and Architectural Engineering Education

Academic institutions have a responsibility to support the building construction sector in reducing its excessive carbon emissions and consumption of resources. This can be achieved by placing greater emphasis on circular construction and the use of renewable and underused resources in research and teaching. This paper presents a learning design that addresses this challenge. Based on active and experiential learning, the design was implemented as part of an elective MSc course at Aarhus University’s Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering in the spring semester of 2025. This course focused on digital design and fabrication tools, which have great potential to facilitate circular construction and increase the use of renewable resources. Moreover, digitally driven automation could help to solve problems associated with an ageing European population, particularly the potential shortage of skilled labor in the near future. The learning design likewise aims to actively engage students in research. It involves three interconnected in-class assignments that introduce students to humanâ–“robot collaboration processes that facilitate the fabrication of optimized timber slabs. The paper provides detailed information on these assignments and their outcomes and presents the results of a System Usability Scale (SUS) questionnaire based on the third and final assignment. Finally, the article reflects on the insights gained and how the learning design could be improved in the future.