There has always been a close relationship between architecture and technology. Yet, in recent times, architecture has stagnated and the construction industry has been slow to adopt technologies that are already well established in other fields. Robotics and Additive Manufacturing offer great potential towards innovation within the construction industry.
A research group at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (www.iaac.net), based in Barcelona set on a goal of re-elaborating 3D-printing techniques so as to overcome existing limitations of this technique in large-scale. The objective was to develop a family of small scale construction robots, all mobile and capable of constructing objects far larger than the robot itself. Moreover, each of the robots developed was to perform a diverse task, linked to the different phases of construction, finally working together as a family towards the implementation of a single structural outcome. Hence, instead of one large machine, a number of much smaller robots working independently, but in coordination, towards a single goal..
Lead Researchers Petr Novikov , Sasa Jokic
Researchers Shihui Jin, Stuart Maggs, Cristina Nan, Dori Sadan
IAAC Suport Team Areti Markopoulou, Guillem Camprodon, Luis Fraguada, Ana Marti Serichol, Shashank Shrivastva, Harry Mann, Sofoklis Giannakopoulos
External Support Maxim Tomash, Lev Maslov, Vadim Kolosov, Joška Križik, Fedor Novikov
Special thanks Chirag Rangholia, Robert Garita, Fran Blanco, Aldo Sollazzo, Alejandra Diaz de Leon, Moritz Begle, Alexandre Oliver, Mathilde Marengo, Julia Kosulnikova, Dmitry Kovtun, Masha Shashkova, Mary Kate Heinrich, Anya Popova, Rodrigo Aguirre, Alejandro del Campo, Carmen Menez, Ali Yerdel, Hriday Siddharth
Sponsors FabLab Barcelona, Ajuntament de Barcelona, Materfad, Esclatec, Dhub Barcelona, Stereotactic, Autotecno