Robotic reversible timber beam
Reversible Timber Beam (RTB) © CREATE
ABOUT THE PROJECT
CREATE group in collaboration with SDU Robotics and I4.0 Lab from the University of Southern Denmark (SDU) announces Robotic Reversible Timber Beam (R2TB), a structure prototype which looks into Circular Construction aided by Human-Robot Collaboration.
R2TB is a four-meter long beam prototype, composed of 696 universal building blocks made of wood, and embedding reversible connections. The project fuses advancements in performance-driven combinatorial design, timber building technology and smart robotic production. The structure is manufactured through a participatory effort of collaborative robots and humans, in which machines and people help and integrate each other. The work builds upon principles and robot technology developed in the Industry 4.0 Laboratory of the University of Southern Denmark.
The beam has been assembled out of a discrete set of reversible building blocks, creating a structure which has a capacity to update and evolve its configuration in time. It is developed through computational methods for structural optimization, voxel-based tectonic and structural discretization.
The project presents a novel approach to wood architecture, starting from the conceptualization of a new process for robotic layered manufacturing. The aim is advancing construction through complex tectonic configurations which are informed by logics of robotic assembly, topology and material optimization, and combinatorial design. With the integration of a universal construction kit and human-robot interaction, structures gain higher efficiency, reversibility and capacity to update and evolve their configuration in time.
A set of discrete and reversible building blocks is developed to be aggregated in additive and load-responsive fashion. However, the blocks are not optimized for one-only condition and they can be reconfigured in multiple and highly diverse spatial configurations. These building units or digital materials are the physical interpretation of big data as they reveal through their tectonic attributes the computational methods used to calculate them. Information such as principal stress direction, magnitude and density, robotic assembly logics and wood properties are used to define directionality, porosity and connectivity among the discrete blocks, as well as the optimal sequence of their aggregation, which ensures the local stability and structural integrity at each step of the robotic assembly process.
Development and Construction of Robotically Assembled Reversible Timber Bridge
The project has been developed in the context of Industry 4.0, developing a fully automated digital workflow, which encompasses the planning and analysis of complex construction elements, linked to the robot simulation and physical assembly. A large scale experimental prototype is manufactured and assembled with the use of five flexible and reconfigurable cells equipped with two collaborative robots - a UR10 and a UR5. A universal kit of building blocks is CNC milled and robotically assembled in I4.0 Lab at the SDU. A multifunctional end-effector is used where the two principle tools for assembly - a gripper and a screwdriver, operate with human-collaboration to complete a complex assembly.
PROJECT CREDITS
CREATE Group - Led by Asst. Prof. Dr. Roberto Naboni
University of Southern Denmark (SDU), Section for Civil and Architectural Engineering (CAE)
In collaboration with: SDU Robotics and supported by SDU I4.0 Lab.
Team: Roberto Naboni, Anja Kunic, Asst. Prof. Dr. Aljaž Kramberger (SDU Robotics), Luca Breseghello, Takwa El Gammal
With the help of: Rasmus K. Andersen, Jonas A. Eriksen, Anna Emilie B. Folkmann, Zahabia Gandhi, Frederikke L. Husum, Martyna Idasiak, Tommy R. Jespersen, Harald Jöchl, David W. Jokszies, Alicja Kowalewska, Vikas Kushwaha, Mads K. Madsen, Shreyas More, Esben Pedersen, Sandro Sanin, Frederik Skafte, Marianne Storch, Marie Teichmann, Daniel Thornild