Toward Intelligent Brick and Block Production: A Survey, Material–Forming-Physics Taxonomy, and Standardized Performance-Metrics Framework

Brick and block production spans manual presses, vibro-compaction systems, mineral-paste and thermoplastic extruders, reactive-slurry casting lines, programmable cells, and robotic placement, yet machinery performance remains difficult to compare because energy, accepted output, wear, availability, and feedstock condition are rarely reported together. This narrative-taxonomic survey synthesizes a 73-source engineering-evidence corpus through a documented search and eligibility protocol, without imposing an unsupported meta-analysis. A hierarchical taxonomy first separates product family and hardening route, then feedstock physical state and dominant forming physics, and finally machine architecture through M*=⟨H,R,F,A,C,K,D⟩. Documentary application covers 29 core brick/block architectures and four adjacent three-dimensional concrete-printing (3DCP) transfer cases; monolithic in-situ printing is explicitly outside the core product boundary. A standardized measurement framework defines accepted throughput, specific energy, first-pass yield, dimensional capability, process stability, component wear, reliability, resource use, and operator exposure. Retrospective application of the Minimum Reporting Dataset (MRD) to a manual polypropylene/brick-powder extruder and a semiautomatic compressed-earth-block production study exposes different reporting gaps, while a fully populated synthetic record demonstrates the intended standard. The framework provides foreground inventory data compatible with ISO 14040/14044 and EN 15804 and a data foundation for branch-specific state estimation, condition monitoring, human-centered automation, and intelligent decision support.