www.designboom.com: researchers from ETH zurich are using a new method for digital timber construction in a real project for the first time. the load-bearing timber modules, which are prefabricated by robots, will be assembled on the top two floors at the ‘dfab house’ construction site. the ‘spatial timber assemblies’ project combines architecture with robotics and craftsmanship.
2 comments:
I know that Katie would read this article and say that the robots are taking over, but I think that this is a great idea. In theatre, I see endless opportunities for impossible designs made possible with computer-aided engineering. But I see so many applications outside of theatre as well. My mother works in construction management for the State Department, in the Overseas Building Operations office. She manages the construction of U.S. consulates and embassies overseas. That often means finding solutions for diplomat and embassy staff housing during renovations and construction. Most of the time, they bring in pre-fab units in shipping containers, which include all of the amenities of a basic apartment. They then just attach the connections for utilities and they're all set. But that also means that the entire embassy lives in a shipping container village for up to several years. It would be a much more pleasant place to live and work if those pre-fab units were more visually interesting. This digital timber construction method seems to do just that.
This article is fascinating in that we are now able to complete processes with robots that before we could only preform parts of the fabrication process. As the article states robots in Zurich are now able to use lumber in a more comprehensive process. The way it does this is “the robot first takes a timber beam and guides it while it is sawed to size. after an automatic tool change, a second robot drills the required holes for connecting the beams. in the final step, the two robots work together and position the beams in the precise spatial arrangement based on the computer layout. to prevent collisions when positioning the individual timber beams, the researchers have developed an algorithm that constantly recalculates the path of motion for the robots according to the current state of construction. workers then manually bolt the beams together.” This whole process is pretty damn interesting if you ask me, soon we can use robots in more and more things.
Post a Comment