Waste-Free Robotic Construction of Spatial Discrete Element Structures

建筑业是资源最密集的行业之一，但民用基础设施的建设仍然采用传统的废物密集型方法。机器人制造预计将在未来几十年内颠覆建筑业。它的优点包括提高生产力，降低劳动力成本，更安全的工作环境和设计一次性的复杂建筑，这些建筑在技术上和经济上都不可行。目前的建筑形式深深植根于前机器人建造原理，因此现有建筑形式的机器人建造仍然具有显著的经济和环境成本。这样的建筑需要模板和海岸工作，一旦整个结构完成，这些工作就浪费了。这项研究将开发计算和物理方法的分析，施工为重点的设计，和机器人组装的大跨度离散结构，建立没有任何形式或海岸工作浪费。此外，该项目将加强高中，本科生和研究生以及博士后研究人员的研究经验，并将通过年度会议和机构夏季材料研究学院向K-12少数民族社区提供外展服务。该研究的目标是产生对如何形成新的理解，并且与机器人定相和路径规划算法相结合的元件布局方法可以被定制用于空间离散元件系统的机器人组装，而不需要任何脚手架或模板。因此，具体目标是（i）开发用于生成在内部膜或轴向作用下加载的离散元件几何形状的计算框架，以及用于基于拓扑优化和测地线网方法的有效元件布局的镶嵌，（ii）将─将施工策略纳入计算框架，以确保在没有外部支持的情况下整个施工过程的稳定性，以及（iii）开发并将基于多个协作静态或移动的机器人的临时支撑定相和路径规划算法的机器人协作装配方法纳入框架中，并通过离散结构原型的构建对其进行物理验证。该项目的主要动机是证明空间结构的形状和元素布局和排序可以定制，以在机器人构建过程中省略所有支撑材料。如果这一前提得到验证，它将为机器人建造建立一个新的范式，并促进机器人制造成为可持续和具有成本效益的民用基础设施的驱动力。该研究将推进结构力学和设计、建筑工程和增材机器人制造领域的知识基础。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The construction industry is one of most resource‐intensive sectors and yet civil infrastructure continues to be constructed with traditional waste-intensive approaches. Robotic manufacturing is projected to disrupt the construction industry in the next decades. Its advantages include increased productivity, reduced labor costs, safer working environments and design of one-off, complex buildings that are not technically and economically feasible with traditional construction methods. Current building forms are deeply rooted in a pre-robotic construction rationale, therefore robotic construction of existing building forms still have significant economic and environmental costs. Such construction would need form and shore work, which goes to waste once the entire structure is completed. This research will develop computational and physical approaches for the analysis, construction-focused design, and robotic assembly of long span discrete structures to build without any form or shore work waste. Additionally, this project will enhance research experiences for high school, undergraduate and graduate students as well as a postdoctoral researcher, and will provide outreach to the K-12 minority community through an annual conference and an institutional summer materials research academy.The goal of this research is to generate a new understanding of how form finding, and element layout approaches coupled with robotic phasing and path-planning algorithms can be tailored for robotic assembly of spatial discrete element systems without requiring any scaffolding or formwork. Thus, the specific objectives are to (i) to develop a computational framework for the generation of discrete element geometries loaded under internal membrane or axial action, and for the tessellation of efficient element layouts based on topology optimization and geodesic net approaches, (ii) to integrate corrugation or plate-bande construction strategies into the computational framework to ensure stability throughout construction in the absence of external support, and (iii) to develop and incorporate robotic collaborative assembly methods based on temporary support phasing and path-planning algorithms for multiple collaborative static or mobile robots, into the framework, and physically validate them through the construction of discrete structure prototypes. The key motivation of this project is to prove that the shape and the element layout and sequencing of spatial structures can be tailored to omit all support material during robotic construction. If this premise is validated, it establishes a novel paradigm for robotic construction and promotes robotic manufacturing as a driver for sustainable and cost-effective civil infrastructure. This research will advance the knowledge base in structural mechanics and design, construction engineering and additive robotic manufacturing.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.