Concrete construction is associated with high environmental impact and geometric limitations imposed by conventional formwork, which has led to growing interest in combining structural optimization with robotic fabrication. In this study, structural optimization refers to computational methods such as topology optimization, shape optimization, and form finding that aim to improve material efficiency and load-bearing performance by modifying the geometry of structural elements. This systematic review investigates how these optimization approaches are translated into fabrication-aware design workflows for robotic concrete construction. Following a PRISMA-based methodology, 90 peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2025 were analyzed. The review focuses on fabrication routes including (i) 3D concrete printing, (ii) 3D-printed formwork, (iii) shotcrete-based additive manufacturing, and (iv) controlled casting systems, and examines how each route constrains geometry representation, design decisions, toolpath generation, and robotic execution. The review analyzes design-to-fabrication workflows that link optimized structural geometry to production logic and process control. Key findings indicate that incorporating fabrication constraints at early design stages can support buildability and potential material efficiency, while reinforcement integration and quality control remain critical challenges for structural reliability. The review also highlights the increasing role of in situ sensing and feedback-driven automation in improving process stability. Overall, the study clarifies current practices, limitations, and emerging directions for integrating structural optimization with robotic concrete fabrication.

Three-dimensional concrete printing (3DCP) enables the fabrication of wall sections with internal cavities that are impractical to form with conventional methods. Although individual studies demonstrate that cavity geometry influences thermal resistance, the magnitude of this effect has not been quantified on a common basis across the literature. This paper introduces the Thermal Effectiveness Index (TEI), defined as the ratio of the theoretical U-value of a solid concrete wall (calculated using the material’s actual thermal conductivity) to the reported U-value, in order to isolate the purely geometric contribution to thermal performance. A structured extraction from 24 Scopus-indexed articles yielded an analysis dataset of 255 variants from 23 articles (after the exclusion of one study whose composite mix made the geometric effect inseparable from material substitution), spanning 17 typology categories. Results show that standard rectangular air cavities perform worse than solid printed counterparts of the same material (median TEI $=0.56$ versus $1.00$ for solid walls) due to internal convection and thermal bridging, whereas sinusoidal infills with post-printed insulation reach a median TEI of 8.9 (18 variants from a single study, so the magnitude requires independent replication). These patterns are descriptive; an article-level sensitivity check indicates that the number of independent studies per wall-type group is not yet sufficient for confirmatory statistical inference. A compliance analysis against five building energy codes showed that only 22% of variants meet the $0.30$ $\mathrm{W}$/($\mathrm{m}$² $\mathrm{K}$) threshold, in line with the component-based U-value criteria specified in the Passive House Institute’s EnerPHit Standard for building retrofits and warm-climate classifications, as opposed to the more stringent $\le 0.15 \mathrm{W}/({\mathrm{m}}^2 \mathrm{K})$ requirement applicable to new construction in temperate climates.

Process dependence is a defining feature of 3D concrete printing (3DCP), and any pooled inference across laboratories must quantify rather than ignore the laboratory effect. We assembled a harmonized corpus of 80 primary 3DCP studies (465 experiments and 1083 hardened mechanical observations) under PRISMA-style screening, applied controlled vocabularies and unit canonicalization, and estimated the share of variance attributable to the study cluster. The intraclass correlation coefficient is 0.77 (95% CI [0.59, 0.86]; 345 records and 40 studies), so more than three quarters of the dispersion in 28-day compressive strength lies between laboratories rather than between mixtures within the same laboratory. A 7-to-28-day calibration evaluated under leave-one-study-out (LOSO) cross-validation produces $R^2=0.625$, MAE $=8.67$ MPa and RMSE $=11.38$ MPa, with 95% prediction intervals covering 96.9% of held-out observations; the band is wide enough (≈85 MPa at the median) that the calibration is suitable for early-screening of mixture and process candidates rather than for code-compatible structural verification. Most of this between-study scatter traces back to processing variables, curing regimes and loading directions that are inconsistently reported. We propose a three-tier Minimum Reporting Set (MSRS) and demonstrate, through a retrospective audit of the included corpus, that adoption is feasible at the entry tier (63% already comply) while higher tiers identify the metadata that must be added before pooled inference can support structural-design decisions for printed elements.

This study presents a proof-of-concept design-to-production framework (D2PF) integrating a 6-axis industrial robotic arm with a custom electromagnetic end effector to organise discrete metallic elements within cement-based blocks. The system enables non-contact, field-based manipulation of magnetically responsive elements (office pins), forming programmable reinforcement patterns guided by predefined toolpath geometries. Toolpaths are generated using parametric design environments (Rhino/Grasshopper) and executed via robotic control software (KUKA|prc), enabling controlled aggregation and repositioning through electromagnetic actuation. Key parameters include robot speed, toolpath repetitions, wire winding count, magnetic force regulation, and reinforcement geometry. To assess feasibility, three cement-based blocks (25 × 25 × 5 cm) with spiral and circular reinforcement configurations, along with an unreinforced reference block, were produced and evaluated using an adapted three-point bending procedure. Results indicate that magnetically formed reinforcements improve flexural performance and enhance crack-bridging capacity compared to the unreinforced sample. The workflow offers an accessible pathway for material-aware robotic manufacturing and non-contact reinforcement strategies in cement-based construction.

Mimari formun belirlendiği şematik tasarım aşaması küçük değişimlerle en büyük faydaların üretilebildiği evredir. Şematik tasarım evresinde güneş ışığından faydalanma miktarı, hâkim rüzgâr yönleri, topoğrafya, çevre yapılarla kurulan ilişki, iklim özellikleri gibi verilere oldukça dikkat edilse de yapının strüktürel davranışları göz önüne alınamamaktadır. Bunun nedenleri, strüktürel analiz için uzmanlaşmış tasarımcı veya mühendisin ön tasarım evresinde genellikle yer almamasıdır. Strüktür tasarımcısı yapı formunun belli bir gelişmişlik düzeyine ulaştığı evrede tasarıma katkı sunmaya başlamaktadır. Yapının ana formunun belirlenmiş olduğu bu evrede strüktürel veriler tasarımı besleyen bilgi olmaktan ziyade, tasarımı gerçekleştirmek için çözümler üreten görevini üstlenmektedir. Taşıyıcı sistem hesaplamalarında zemin davranışları, sismik özellikler, malzemelerin dayanım verileri ve binanın hangi amaçla kullanılacağı gibi fazla sayıda bileşen bulunmaktadır. Yapısal özelliklerin bu düzeyde detaylı bir analizine, zaten tasarım süreçlerine yoğunlaşmış olan mimarın vakit ayırması genellikle mümkün olmamaktadır. Bu aşamada eldeki sınırlı tasarım girdileriyle yapısal davranışa yönelik veriler elde etmek, ileri tasarım aşamasında yapılacak detaylı analizlere ve yönetmeliklerin zorunlu tuttuğu standartlara uyulmasına katkı verecektir. Yapısal elemanlara taşıyıcı malzeme ve kesit atamasına izin veren öneri tasarım aracı, yapının ağırlığını ve maksimum gerilmelerin oluştuğu bölgeleri ön tasarım aşamasında kullanıcıya sunacaktır. Bu çalışmada şematik tasarım aşamasında, mimari formun ortaya çıkmaya başlamasıyla beraber hem parametrik tasarıma hem de geleneksek tasarıma yönelik strüktürel analizler yapıp sonuçlar üretebilecek hesap aracı önerilmekte ve üretilen modeller üzerinden sonuçlar karşılaştırılmaktadır.