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AIXD: AI-eXtended Design
AI-Augmented Architectural Design
Impact Printing
Human-Machine Collaboration
AR Timber Assemblies
Autonomous Dry Stone
Architectural Design with Conditional Autoencoders
Robotic Plaster Spraying
Additive Manufactured Facade
Timber Assembly with Distributed Architectural Robotics
Eggshell Benches
Eggshell
CantiBox
RIBB3D
Data Driven Acoustic Design
Mesh Mould Prefabrication
Data Science Enabled Acoustic Design
Thin Folded Concrete Structures
FrameForm
Adaptive Detailing
Deep Timber
Robotic Fabrication Simulation for Spatial Structures
Jammed Architectural Structures
RobotSculptor
Digital Ceramics
On-site Robotic Construction
Mesh Mould Metal
Smart Dynamic Casting and Prefabrication
Spatial Timber Assemblies
Robotic Lightweight Structures
Mesh Mould and In situ Fabricator
Complex Timber Structures
Spatial Wire Cutting
Robotic Integral Attachment
Mobile Robotic Tiling
YOUR Software Environment
Aerial Construction
Smart Dynamic Casting
Topology Optimization
Mesh Mould
Acoustic Bricks
TailorCrete
BrickDesign
Echord
FlexBrick
Additive processes
Room acoustics

Impact Printed Structures, 2021-2024
Impact printing is a novel robotic building method for constructing full-scale, freeform structures with a custom earth-based material. In contrast to layer-based 3D printing, this robotic construction method is based on controlled, high-velocity deposition. By depositing material at velocities up to 10 meters per second, the process can achieve interlayer bonding between multiple courses. Our low environmental impact earth-based mixture is under development and includes several components: primarily locally sourced secondary material with a low amount of mineral admixture. We have an experimental setup for producing 2-meter tall prototypes in the Robotic Fabrication Laboratory at ETH Zurich, while we plan for integrating the same hardware setup on the HEAP autonomous excavator, developed by the Robotic Systems Lab.

In parallel, we are developing a digital design and construction strategy for realizing these structures utilizing state-of-the-art methods in computational design and sensing to enable a breakthrough at the full building scale. This research will greatly enhance sustainable and mobile robotic construction potentials and combine research and real-scale applications. It will become an unprecedented in-?situ robotic additive manufacturing process and pave the way to radically new approaches and innovation possibilities for the design and manufacturing of earthen structures.

Credits:
Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich

Collaborators:
Dr. Lauren Vasey (project lead), Kunaljit Chadha, Victor Leung, Ananya Kango

In cooperation with:
Chair of Sustainable Construction (CSC), Prof. Guillaume Habert, Dr. Coralie Brumaud, Julie Assunção

Robotic Systems Lab (RSL), Professor Dr. Marco Hutter, Grzegorz Malczyk, Koen KrämerKramer, Joel Zurmühle
Research programme:ETH Zurich Research Grant, Circular Building Industry (CBI) Innovation Booster, ETH Partnership Council for Sustainable Digital Construction

Selected experts: Prof Michael Wüthrich, Marcel Portmann (ZHAW) , Markus Montenegro

Support: Michael Lyrenmann, Philippe Fleischmann (Robotic Fabrication Lab, ETH Zurich)

Industry partner: Eberhard Unternehmungen

Sponsor: WASP Srl

Copyright 2023, Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
Gramazio Kohler Research
Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication
ETH Zürich HIB E 43
Stefano-Franscini Platz 1 / CH-8093 Zurich

+41 44 633 49 06
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