NRI: FND: 3D Concrete Printing with Macro-Micro Robots

建筑业是美国经济的重要组成部分，但建筑业仍然是世界上自动化程度最低、生产率最低的行业之一。许多建筑活动技术含量低，容易受伤，依赖于半熟练劳动力。在工业中，混凝土的浇筑是一个普遍的过程。该奖项支持浇注混凝土的机器人系统的研究。这项研究将产生设计机器人所需的基础知识，这些机器人可以比目前的手动方法更高效和精确地浇注混凝土，同时与人类工人密切和安全地工作。多学科研究将由一个多样化的研究生和本科生群体进行，其中包括妇女和代表性不足的少数民族学生。由此产生的机器人系统将重量轻，可广泛部署，成本低，本质上安全。因此，从这项研究的结果将改善工作流程，提高建筑质量，支持工人，并提高美国建筑业的竞争力。混凝土部署机器人系统将基于一个新的电缆驱动的宏/微观设计，具有欠驱动电缆机器人作为宏单元，与电缆驱动的连续体机器人，与混凝土输送软管集成，作为微观单元。宏微系统代表了电缆驱动的合作机器人的重大创新。 协调的双重系统提出了新的和具有挑战性的问题，在控制的相互关联的动力系统的微分代数约束和研究将产生的基础知识，解决相关的问题。机器人安全可靠地协助人类同事的需求进一步激发了一种创新的数据驱动方法，用于提供动态施工环境的态势感知。对灵巧混凝土浇筑的关注代表了土木工程的一次飞跃，使混凝土结构的增材3D打印具有增强的功能，和相关的基础材料研究将产生新的理解最合适的具体配方的机器人部署。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得支持的评估使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准。

The construction industry is a critical element of the US economy, but construction remains one of the least automated and lowest productivity industries in the world. Much construction activity is low-tech, injury-prone and dependent on semi-skilled labor. Within the industry, the pouring of concrete is a pervasive process. This award supports research in robotic systems for pouring concrete. The research will generate the fundamental knowledge required to design robots which can pour concrete with greater efficiency and precision than current manual methods, while working intimately and safely with human workers. The multidisciplinary research will be conducted by a diverse group of graduate and undergraduate students that includes women and underrepresented minority students. The resulting robot systems will be lightweight, widely deployable, low-cost, and inherently safe. Therefore, results from this research will improve work flow, enhance build quality, support workers, and enhance the competitiveness of the US construction industry.The concrete deployment robot system will be based on a new cable-driven macro/micro design, featuring an under-actuated cable robot as the macro unit, with a cable-driven continuum robot, integrated with the concrete delivery hose, as the micro unit. The macro-micro system represents a significant innovation in cable-actuated co-robots. Coordination of the dual system presents new and challenging problems in the control of interconnected dynamical systems subject to differential-algebraic constraints and the research will generate the fundamental knowledge required to solve the associated problems. The need for the robot to safely and robustly assist human coworkers further motivates an innovative data-driven methodology for providing situational awareness of the dynamic construction environment. The focus on dexterous concrete pouring represents a quantum leap for civil engineering in enabling additive 3D printing of concrete structures with enhanced functionalities, and the related fundamental materials research will yield new understanding of the most suitable concrete formulations for robotic deployment.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.