Real-time kinematics directed swarm robotics for construction 3D printing

Abstract

Architectural advancements in housing are limited by traditional construction techniques. Construction 3D printing introduces freedom in design that can lead to improvements in building design, resource efficiency, and cost. Designs for current construction 3D printers have limited build volume and, at the scale needed for printing houses, transportation and setup could become issues. This work is an exploration of and proposal for a swarm robotics-based construction 3D printing system that could bypass these issues. In this system, a central computer will coordinate the movement and actions of a swarm of robots which are each capable of extruding concrete in a programmable path and navigating on both the ground and the structure. The central computer will create paths for each robot to follow by processing the G-code obtained from slicing a CAD model of the intended structure. The robots will use readings from real-time kinematics (RTK) modules to keep themselves on their designated paths. The current progress in hardware and software is available on GitHub for collaborative development of this proposed approach towards construction.