Maria Yablonina, a graduate of the University of Stuttgart, has designed a new method of construction using micro-robots that are cheap, fast, and can create structures that would otherwise not be possible. Instead of using one or two large robots, Yablonina and the University ’s Computer Design Institute (ICD) have developed a carbon fiber manufacturing method that involves many small robots. These look like Roomba vacuum cleaners and can be put in a suitcase.
Agile robots climb up walls and ceilings and work together to pull fiber filaments across the space to create structures on site.
Achim Menges, architect and ICD director, said: "We are only at the beginning of exploring the real architectural potential of this manufacturing system." "But we firmly believe that its main advantage is that you can build completely new structures, otherwise it will not be possible."
He told Dezeen: "Practically speaking, small robots will be cheaper, and in a large number of collaborations, they will be faster than existing systems."
Yablonina is a graduate student of the university's ITECH course, and developed the project with ICD and the Institute of Building Structure and Structural Design (ITKE). These departments are located behind the carbon fiber Elytra filament hall currently on display at the V & A Museum in London.
The project constitutes a form of "mass building"-a manufacturing method expected to be commonly used in the future, which involves groups of small robots working together.
The project is called "Mobile Robot Manufacturing System for Filament Structures" and features robots that use sensors and suction to move on any horizontal or vertical surface (including existing architectures).
Their size and mobility mean they can reach areas and create structures that large industrial robots cannot reach.
Menges said: "Working with many small robots, instead of one or two large ones, greatly expands the design space and allows us to take advantage of the unique possibilities of the filament structure."
One can conceive of more complex, differentiated and larger building systems beyond the workspace and typical industrial machinery. "
Robots can use internal fans to move on walls and ceilings, and these fans generate strong suction to suck them to any surface.
The next step will be to increase the scale of work by increasing the number of robots and their range of motion. Currently, robots must be connected to external power sources via cables, which limits their application.
ICD and ITKE have developed various building systems that use carbon fiber, which Menges described as "the largest undeveloped resource in the construction industry" in an interview with Dezeen earlier.
He claimed that combining digital technology with physical manufacturing could trigger the fourth industrial revolution.
Menges' team is using carbon fiber in large-span building roofs and high-end building envelopes. Their recent project includes a pavilion based on the beetle's wings and a light-weight shell wrapped in the abdomen, and the other is inspired by the exoskeletons of lobsters, both of which are made by large industrial robots.
Similarly, architect Neri Oxman pointed out in an interview with Dezeen in 2013 that group building will be the technology of future construction sites.
Oxman said: "By using larger gantry to break through the scale limitation can only provide so much. However, if we consider group building, we are actually pushing the construction technology into the 21st century."