"Semiramis has been a beacon project for architectural research, bringing together people inside and outside ETH and advancing the key research topics of the present, such as interactive architectural design and digital fabrication," said Kohler.ĮTH Zurich is one of the world's leading technology universities and undertakes many complex architectural projects. Its recent work includes the DFAB House, which is entirely designed and built using new digital processes, such as robotic timber construction and 3D sand printing. The robots work from a computer design developed by human designers working with AI This has benefits for both the workers and the environment, as the craftspeople avoid the work of heavy lifting and positioning, and no resource-intensive substructures are required.Įach of Semiramis' pods is composed of 51-88 wooden panels, and the algorithm calculating the robot arms' movements makes sure they avoid collision. The robots work directly from the computer design, picking up panels and maneuvering them into a precise position, but humans are also integral to the process, as expert craftspeople apply a special casting resin to glue the panels together while they are held in place. Related story Kitrvs winery's facades built from 13,596 individually rotated bricks The final design the researchers chose for Semiramis is now under construction at the Robotic Fabrication Laboratory at ETH Zurich, where four suspended robotic arms work in tandem to assemble its wooden pieces. "This leads to new, often surprising geometries."
"The computer model lets us reverse the conventional design process and explore the full design scope for a project," said Kohler. The software would adjust the structure's entire geometry around any change, always generating the most efficient and load-bearing configuration. The robots work collaboratively with humans, who do the work of gluing the panels together with a special resin This used a software developed jointly with ETH Zurich's Computational Robotics Lab, and allowed the researchers to explore and fine-tune the designs together in augmented reality. The researchers then tweaked the designs in the Immersive Design Lab, an augmented reality laboratory on the university's Hönggerberg campus. The options included different pod shapes and spatial arrangements and would highlight how the differences affected individual target variables, such as pod irrigation.
The algorithm driving the arms coordinates their movements so they don't collide with each otherĪ machine learning algorithm, developed in collaboration with the Swiss Data Science Center, presented the researchers with a range of design options that fit their inputted requirements. The design involved software and algorithms created by the Swiss university's researchers and applied for the first time on this project.