Duration: 2023-2028
Funders: SBUF

This project is carried out in collaboration with PEAB and the Centre for Construction Robotics at LTH, and is funded by SBUF (Development Fund for the Swedish Construction Industry) 

The project is aimed at developing new knowledge and new tools for 3d printing, for application with sensor-feedback robotics. Its specific goals are:

• Develop knowledge that enables the use of robotics for 3d printing, preferably on construction sites and in niches that suit robotics and construction.
• Increase the degree of maturity of applications, both in terms of process but also safe and efficient use of robotic equipment in a construction environment.
• Develop and validate hypotheses that show that robotics increases the ecological sustainability of the built environment.
• Enable a robot-aware digital information flow between architecture-technology-manufacturing-construction.
• Search for successful business applications that can help drive the use of construction robotics in the construction industry.

In this project, basic knowledge, tools and methodology are developed to enable the use of robotic 3d printing as a construction process. These can lead to concrete building systems that can be further developed into new business models, but also lay the foundation for future industry-related development projects. Specifically, we expect to make available methods to connect design tools with manufacturing methods, integrate data acquisition across multiple scales in robotic 3d printing, and create a process that is robust to variances in response to (partially) unstructured conditions.

By integrating data collection and real-time feedback to design tools and models, conditions are also created to use alternative materials that can replace today's energy-intensive materials. It primarily includes the use of unfired clay as a binder, but also bio-based materials. Such materials potentially reduce climate impact, but as they are dynamic and react in terms of shape to, for example, moisture content, they require an interactive and responsive design and manufacturing process.

With the project, we see a potential to break the opposite relationship between quality and efficiency that currently dominates the construction sector. Through computer-driven design, digital manufacturing and simulation, unique, location-adapted and high-quality solutions can be produced without an increased cost. It provides the opportunity to produce buildings with greater value for both end users and businesses.