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Robotic Building
Construction
understandconstruction.com
A number of individuals and companies across
the world are developing robotic construction systems.
While these usually grab a lot of headlines,
the reality of the situation needs closer study.
Lets' begin by understanding why people are
interested in robotic construction:
ADVANTAGES OF CONSTRUCTION BY ROBOTS
Robotic building construction has the
following advantages:
Robots can be extraordinarily precise in
construction
Robots can work 24 x 7 in a wide range of
conditions
They eliminate human problems in
construction: not showing up for work, showing up drunk, mistakes, laziness,
injury, the need for safety, the need for health insurance, fights with
co-workers
Specialized robots could work in small, dark,
airless spaces that are unsafe for humans, or on the facades of tall buildings
without facing vertigo
They tend not to form unions.
All these factors make them much cheaper and
more reliable than conventional construction in the long run.
They eliminate the potential risks from
accidents and lawsuits, assuming there are no humans on site.
SO, DO THEY ACTUALLY WORK?
Let’s look at a few building robots:
Construction Robotics is a US based company
that has developed
a bricklaying robot. Called SAM, or semi-autonomous mason,
the robot has been used to lay bricks on a number of projects.
MIT Robot that 3D print or build foam
structures that can in turn be used to make concrete walls.
As you can see,
most robots consist of long arms that can place brick, foam, or other materials
accurately.
While this is no doubt impressive, there is a
long way to go before robots will completely replace construction by humans.
Let's now talk about at some of the problems
faced by robots at construction sites:
o Robots were
originally developed for use in factories.
They operate in
highly controlled, clean, clutter-free environments, most often without humans
in close proximity.
A building site is
another matter altogether.
First of all, each
site is laid out differently, so a robot would have to be intelligent enough to
recognize where it is on the site and then move to the right location.
Secondly, building
sites are often chaotic, disorganised spaces with materials, tools, debris, and
wires spread about.
Many areas of the
site will have unpaved soft soil, into which a robot will sink if it steps off
the beaten path.
There will be dust,
rain, ice, and storms. There will be humans walking around. Getting a robot to
work in these conditions is very difficult.
o Buildings nowadays
are complex entities, and construction entails many different trades coming
together to work in perfect sync with each other.
The robots that you
see now each perform one specialised task. It is impossible for a bricklaying robot
to perform delicate tasks such as installing electrical cabling.
Human dexterity,
intelligence and situational awareness, developed over hundreds of millions of
years, is currently far superior.
Services like power
cables, data and information cables of many kinds (voice, security, fire alarm,
BMS) have to be woven through the fabric of the building.
So, a robo-mason must
also be able to lay conduits for electrical wires, plumbing pipes, and must be
able to perform waterproofing tasks.
SO, WHEN WILL I MOVE IN TO A BUILDING MADE BY
ROBOTS?
In our (sometimes humble) opinion, this will
not happen before 2040 or so, when robots become a lot more street-smart, and
develop some kind of 'general intelligence'.
Robots will need enough situational awareness
to be able to move around a construction site, and enough multi-tasking ability
to work with a range of materials and techniques as described above.
The current crop of robots represents the
industry taking its 'baby steps' towards solving the problem.
Until then, one is more likely to see
architects using robots in novel ways, to fabricate interesting shapes and
forms that cannot be done in the traditional way.
Enjoy the examples below:
SELF ASSEMBLING BUILDINGS?
Its possible that robotic construction will
enable an entirely new approach.
Rather than trying to make a robot emulate a
human, what if swarms of robots were each given a repititive task, and limited
intelligence, to build structures, just like ants build anthills?
There is no "master architect" or
"project manager" in anthills.
Each ant repeatedly adds material, following
a very clear set of rules, and the anthill emerges from the collective efforts
of the entire swarm of ants.
If we look at human cells, the information or
blueprint to construct the cell is embedded within the structure of the cell,
in the DNA.
This enables the cells to make copies of
themselves.
It may be possible to develop building
components that have some built-in geometry that allows them to link together
to form buildings in a number of different ways, and perhaps allow humans to
program them to link together two or three different ways, thereby allowing a
variety of structures from the same module.
In this approach, the robot does not build
the structure, but is the structure, as the building is built of thousands of
identical mini-robots.
This
is a site that explains the art and science of building construction in great
clarity and detail. Our goal is to make you understand concepts in
building construction.
Written by architects and engineers, the content on the site is actually a
result of accumulated years of work experience at building construction sites
and design offices. This expert knowledge of building construction is not
available in textbooks!
We also take great pains to ensure that our quality of writing is of a high standard. We aim to take complicated situations and make them simple and clear, as well as to provide content that is interesting to industry experts and newcomers alike. Do let us know where we succeed - and where we fail - in this task.
We also take great pains to ensure that our quality of writing is of a high standard. We aim to take complicated situations and make them simple and clear, as well as to provide content that is interesting to industry experts and newcomers alike. Do let us know where we succeed - and where we fail - in this task.
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