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The robot takes a timber beam and guides it while it is sawed to size. After a tool change (done automatically) a second robot drills the holes required to connect two beams together.
Finally, two robots work together to position the beams precisely in the right places – the university’s scientists have developed an algorithm that constantly recalculates the robots’ path of motion. Humans then come in at the end to bolt the beams together by hand.
Material savings
Unlike traditional timber-frame construction, these Spatial Timber Assemblies can manage without reinforcement plates because the required rigidity and load bearing result from the geometric structure. This saves material and opens up new design possibilities that wouldn’t be possible using existing techniques.
“If any change is made to the project overall, the computer model can be constantly adjusted to meet the new requirements,” says Matthias Kohler, professor of architecture and digital fabrication at ETH Zurich. “This kind of integrated digital architecture is closing the gap between design, planning and execution.”
The technology is being put to the test with six unique timber modules which will be prefabricated and transported to a construction site at Dubendorf, where they will be combined into a two-storey residential unit.
That’s not the only project where robotic systems are edging out construction workers. In 2019, people will move into some of the world’s first 3D-printed houses in the Netherlands. The system used – which has been designed to offset a shortage of trained bricklayers – employs a nozzle to extrude cement according to the architect’s specification. It’s being used to build five homes in the Netherlands, while a similar project in Puerto Rico aims to build low-cost housing. New Story says it can build a house in under 24 hours for less than $4,000 using ICON’s Vulcan 3D-printer.
Caterpillar, the US construction company, recently invested $2m in Fastbrick Robotics, an Australian firm which is developing a bricklaying robot that could build the frame of a house in less than three days.
Jobs for the humanoid
In Japan, meanwhile, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology is taking a different approach. It has built a humanoid robot, designed for situations where there’s a shortage of human workers.
The prototype HRP-5P has been shown lifting plasterboard and drilling holes – it’s very accurate, but very slow at carrying out the tasks.
Content published by Professional Engineering does not necessarily represent the views of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.