UK researchers have been given
more than $3m to try and develop robots that can swarm into disaster zones and
print emergency shelters.
Universities and companies
including BuroHappold and Dyson have four years to combine a suite of
technologies – including autonomous drones, miniaturised 3D printing and
artificial “swarm intelligence” – that would allow the robots to build
life-saving structures in places that are too dangerous or difficult for
construction teams to get to.
The concept sees swarms of drones scanning and
modelling the landscape and using building information modelling (BIM) systems
to print structures on the spot from scratch.
The
researchers say that the world’s first “Aerial Additive Building Manufacturing
System” (Aerial ABM) could even revolutionise conventional construction by
miniaturising 3D print capability, giving it autonomy, and putting it in the
air.
“In the first instance the drones would fly to the
site and just observe what is happening,” explained Dr. Mirko Kovac, research
leader and director of the Aerial Robotics Laboratory at Imperial College
London in a podcast this week.
“Once
the site has been identified where for example shelters would be needed, then
we can create the virtual model on the computer offsite, away in a safe zone,
then send the drones with those materials on board to, in swarms, construct
those types of shelters.”
Kovac
said the geometries of the buildings would most likely be domes or other
self-supporting types of structures.
Swarms working together
The
four-year project, which has received a $3.3m (£2.3m) grant from the UK’s
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, involves researchers from
Imperial College, the University of Bath and University College London.
Industry
partners include the innovative vacuum cleaner maker Dyson, engineering
consultancy BuroHappold, contractor Skanska, Dutch 3D print firm Ultimaker, and
the UK’s BRE Trust.
In
a research brief,
Imperial College London said it had already flown drones that can extrude 3D
print material in the air, and had also simulated swarms of drones planning and
making things autonomously and collaboratively.
With
the grant, the team will now develop a real Aerial ABM system that will build
walls and a freeform pavilion building. That will require breakthroughs in
hardware, autonomy, materials science and structural engineering.
As
well as being used in disasters, the team believes that Aerial ABM systems
could eventually be used to cut time and cost in normal construction scenarios
– by getting flying printers to repair or build where it would be awkward and
expensive to put humans and equipment.
Kovac
also believes Aerial ABM holds an important key to the notion of smart cities.
“If
you think of the future smart city the question arises, what is smart about
it?” Kovac said.
“One aspect of this smartness in the city is the
sensing, the distributed knowledge, information, and intelligence. But it is
also the reaction to that information. So in that context the drones can help
to gather the information, to sense the environment, inspect structures,
inspect buildings, for example, and then be used to repair or maintain those
buildings, and eventually also to construct those buildings.”
Photograph:
Drones are used for complex tasks today, but could they revolutionise
construction by miniaturising 3D print capability, giving it autonomy, and
putting it in the air? (Heidi Jong Baw/Getty)
Source: http://www.globalconstructionreview.com/innovation/scientists-develop-flying-rob7ots-ca7n-pri7nt/
