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The construction sector is a reluctant adopter of new technology, but advances in materials, processes, and their
implementation using purpose-designed robots aim to change this.
positioning [for example, Bluetooth low energy mounted on the end effector. This method using a nonlinear least squares optimization to
(BLE), radio frequency identification (RFID), generates an immediate contextual map that, previous scans (3). The positional shift calcu-
and indoor Global Positioning System (iGPS)] in addition to creating as-built models for lated from the scan provides the displacement
and visual SLAM (vSLAM) methods such as vi- verification and documentation, is also instru- and current location of the end effector, which,
in turn, enables the system to reorient and re-
calculate the next required sequences.
National Centre of Competence in Research Digital Fabrication, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland. An interdisciplinary research initiative de-
*Corresponding author. Email: loveridge@dfab.ch veloped at ETH Zrich called Mesh Mould has
been developed using the IF platform and com- Other concepts for on-site robotic con- REFERENCES AND NOTES
bines advances in robotics, sensing, materials struction processes using different assembly 1. M. Kohler, F. Gramazio, J. Willmann, in The Robotic
Touch: How Robots Change Architecture (Park Books,
science, structural engineering, and architec- systems and materials such as timber and cast 2014), p. 10.
tural design (see Fig. 1). Mesh Mould aims to metal are currently also being explored. In 2. K. Drfler, T. Sandy, M. Giftthaler, F. Gramazio, M. Kohler,
eliminate the formwork used in conventional addition to gains in productivity and new op- J. Buchli, Mobile robotic brickworkAutomation of
concrete structures by using a mobile robot to portunities for architectural expression, such a discrete robotic fabrication process using an
fabricate a dense steel mesh that acts as both methods enable innovations that can contrib- autonomous mobile robot, in Robotic Fabrication in
Architecture, Art and Design (Springer International
a retaining form and the steel reinforcement ute to a more sustainable and high-quality built Publishing, 2016), pp. 205218.
for the structure, into which fluid concrete is environment (7). However, for on-site robotic 3. T. Sandy, M. Giftthaler, K. Doerfler, M. Kohler, J. Buchli,
poured (4). technologies to successfully enter mainstream Autonomous repositioning and localization of an in situ
For this project, the IF robot was equipped construction, there is one vital challenge yet fabricator, in Proceedings of the 2016 IEEE International
Conference on Robotics and Automation (ICRA) (IEEE, 2016),
with a custom-designed mechatronic end ef- to be addressed: man-machine interfaces and
pp. 28522858.
fector, which forms, welds, and cuts metal re- interactions. 4. N. Hack, W. V. Lauer, F. Gramazio, M. Kohler, Mesh
bar meshes into digitally optimized geometries On-site digital fabrication and robotic tech- mould: Robotically fabricated metal meshes as
(5), saving material and reducing embodied en nologies will not eliminate construction work- concrete formwork and reinforcement, in Proceedings
ergy (6). The small-scale precision required for ers. Robots may replace workers in the most of the 11th International Symposium on Ferrocement
botic processes. This method is currently in manufacturing industries, and research is now Citation: R. Loveridge, T. Coray, Robots on construction sites:
testing on-site, with a building codecertified well under way to ensure that the construction The potential and challenges of on-site digital fabrication.
dwelling to be completed in 2018. sector will be next. Sci. Robot. 2, eaan3674 (2017).
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