Photo: Ilmar Hurkxkens
Construction Robotics
Currently construction and demolition processes are limited by the accessibility of the construction site, and the ease with which machinery can manoeuvre within the site. To alleviate this problem, we are developing novel technologies to enable robotic, architectural-scale and landscape-scale building processes. By building mobile robots able to create landscapes and assemble constructions with a precision that is impossible to reach with the available tools and through human operation today, we will considerably improve and optimise the potential to work with on-site materials, which sets a new standard for sustainable building processes. We will create new modelling, design and construction processes with a focus on a walking excavator machine and a mobile manipulator for landscaping and robotic aggregation. To this end, we build upon model- and learning-based control methods as well as on multi-modal environment perception and classification tools. We will work with design studios to scale our first demonstrations of automated excavation and small-scale fix-based stone aggregation to automated, sustainable construction using on-site materials such as soil, natural stones and waste concrete.