The rise of the robots Martyn Day evaluates the latest projects and technologies involved in deploying robots and 3D printing in construction.
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(producing an amazing three storeys per hile the general media Modular and Prefab seems happy to stir up Modular design and prefabrication has day) by using prefabricated components. The B2 Pacific Park building in fears of mass-unemploy- long been a popular subset of AEC. ment and social instabili- It has been proven to work for ‘proto- Brooklyn’s Navy yard had a very comty brought about by the infiltration of cabins’, McDonalds restaurants, emer- plex design that used prefabricated comrobotics into traditional middle-class gency shelters and caravans, which need ponents to build 32-storeys, 363 apartjobs, the construction industry remains to be ‘manufactured’ rapidly and ments, and 930 modules. Facit Homes has developed a unique relatively untouched by automation, deployed in weeks. despite decades-old flagellation over marHowever, despite many attempts, pre- way to employ digital fabrication within ket inefficiencies. fabrication has generally failed to get its BIM process for domestic dwellings. BIM has been touted as a way to reclaim much traction in construction until rela- Using Revit, customers work with the some of this inefficiency but, looked at a tively recently. There are now a number of firm to design their individual home. The Revit model is then used to generate different way, it is also the entry point to firms, such as China’s Broad Sustainable robotic fabrication. Building (BSB) company, which are work- GCODE to run a CNC milling machine, In the manufacturing world, the move to ing out how prefabrication can have bene- which is shipped to the construction site in a shipping container. The building is 3D modelling enabled Computer fits without the old drawbacks. Numerical Controlled (CNC) machining Autodesk VP strategic industry rela- assembled from insulated wooden box sections, which are cut fresh and 3D printing, the core asset each day wherever the buildof which is the creation of a 3D ing site is and controlled back model to drive the software, to Robotics use in construction remains at base in London. drive the machines. embryonic, with today’s plinth-located Facit Homes managing As a model-centric approach becomes more mainstream in manufacturing robots making Doctor Who’s director Bruce Bell explained to AEC Magazine why the traAEC, it will inevitably drive Darleks look positively advanced ditional view of prefab buildthe digital fabrication of comings from factories will not ponents or complete buildings. work in the residential sector. However, today’s attitude towards creating BIM models is more tions Phil Bernstein recently examined “There is a direct correlation between about documentation than driving fabri- how technology changes are pushing the factory fabrication and repetition cation and will need another step-change AEC industry towards embracing pre- because you can’t have factories sitting to enable model-driven fabrication. fabrication. (lineshapespace.com/future- idle due to the overheads. So, as soon as you have a factory, you need turnover While much of this work resides in the of-construction). research labs of universities, there are Mr Bernstein envisions that buildings and in order to have turnover, you need companies like Laings, which is actively will be ‘assembled’ and then mass cus- standardisation and you end up producseeking to deploy rapid fabrication tech- tomised, enabling sophisticated design ing the same thing over and over again. “If you build on-site, which the vast nologies that hitherto have been the pre- changes even though components are serve of the automotive industry. Laings configured within a production line majority of buildings are, the constraints are completely different and fabricating is doing so with its Design for environment. Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) Mr Bernstein gave a number of exam- on demand has benefits such as having approach to modular construction. ples that, he said, prove that it is possible no heating, storage costs etc, as running a A number of other highly-publicised to utilise digital fabrication and have a factory would. “The economics (of prefab) just don’t projects are also seeking to demonstrate unique end result. that robots and 3D printing can be utiFor example, BSB built a 57-storey stand up. It leads to standardisation and lised effectively on large-scale projects. tower, with 800 apartments in 19 days people don’t want the same, and every
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Summer 2017 special edition
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