We are pleased to announce the publication of a new article on "Leveraging Building Material as Part of the In-Plane Robotic Kinematic System for Collective Construction" in Advanced Science.
In this paper, the authors present a modular collective robotic construction system based on robotic actuators that use timber struts to assemble architectural artifacts and a portion of the robotic body for locomotion.
Although collective robotic construction systems are beginning to show how multi-robot systems can contribute to building construction by efficiently erecting low-cost, sustainable structures, the majority of research uses non-structural or highly customized materials.
The authors present a modular collective robotic construction system based on a robotic actuator that uses timber struts for the assembly of architectural artifacts and a portion of the robot body for locomotion. The presented system was co-designed for in-plane assembly from architectural, robotic, and computer science perspectives to integrate the various hardware and software requirements into a single workflow. The system is then tested using five representative physical scenarios.
Leveraging Building Material as part of the In-Plane Robotic Kinematic System for Collective Construction
These proof-of-concept demonstrations show three tasks required for construction assembly:
- the ability of the system to locomote.
- the dynamic change of the topology of the connection between robotic actuators and wooden struts
- and the coollaboration in the transportation of wooden struts.
This lays the foundation for a future autonomous collective robotic construction system that addresses collective construction assembly and, through its modularity, further increases the flexibility of on-site construction robots.
Congratulations to all the authors involved!
Full access to the paper here.