03.10.2024
LAYERED - A Robot for Surface Finishing
LAYERED aims to automate surface finishing in construction using autonomous robotics. These technologies help to overcome labour shortages, improve the health conditions for workers and to increase productivity. The first application is plastering.
LAYERED uses autonomous robots on construction sites, to improve the speed and working conditions of surface finishing processes. The team consists of experts from the fields of architecture, construction, digital fabrication, robotics and AI. In 2018, Gramazio Kohler Research (GKR) at ETH Zurich investigated the design potentials of robotic plastering. By combining plaster spraying with a mobile fabrication process, a novel thin-layer printing method was developed. As part of the NCCR DFAB, research associate Selen Ercan Jenny conducted her doctorate on the topic of ‘Robotic Plaster Spraying: Crafting Surfaces with Adaptive Thin Layer Printing through Continuous Mobile Fabrication’.
From 2021 the research continued with the support of InnoSuisse, in collaboration with Robotic Systems Lab (RSL) and RussoTec AG. Within a new Innovation Project, led by Eliott Sounigo, LAYERED is currently developing an innovative mobile robot in collaboration with The Automation Robotics and Machines Laboratory (ARM-Lab) of SUPSI, introducing the first autonomous system for surface finishing in Switzerland.