b'the Aspern Vienna Urban Lakeside project indrones are proving indispensable for forward- Fabrication to investigate the kinds of structures Austria, one the largest urban developmentthinking companies looking stay one step ahead.drones might be capable of building.projects in Europe. Last month it unveiledBy negating the need for expensive and heavy- Aerial robots are generic and can be a pilot project whereby aerial data collectedduty safety equipment the robots are savingequipped with different tools to transport and by drones combines with image processingtime and money, while also delivering precisemanipulate material in different ways, but a software to visualize energy losses across entireinformation more reliably than is otherwisekey subject hereby is weight, Ammar Mirjan, neighborhoods. The data is then presented aspossible. But are drones capable of contributinga researcher at the Chair of Architecture and thermal maps, making it easier to identify whichmore to construction than just gathering data? Digital Fabrication, tells Gizmag. This motivates buildings could be renovated to be made moreBack in 2011, a team of roboticists fromthe investigation into lightweight construction energy efficient. ETH Zrichs Institute for Dynamic Systemssystems. We are particularly interested in the Down under, Australian firm Soto Consultingand Control offered a glimpse of what might befabrication of tensile structures such as cable-net structures and three-dimensional suspension structures that could not be built with other fabrications methods.In Mirjans view, a drone has a unique set of attributes that sets it apart from conventional construction machinery. The most obvious being that they are capable of flight, but also that they arent limited to working in the one area and can access spaces that simply arent accessible otherwise. This could see them carry out Last month, Siemens unveiled a pilot project whereby aerial data collected by drones combines with imageconstruction in hard-to-reach places like between processing software to visualize energy losses as thermal maps across entire neighborhoods (Photo: Siemens) buildings or sites without access to streets. Furthermore, they have the ability interact and Engineers are using drones to monitor heavypossible. The researchers presented a 6-meter (20collaborate on structures that cannot be built by industry and mining sites, scoping out largeft) tall tower constructed from 1,500 polystyrenesingle machines (like cranes that are limited to concrete structures, boilers and skyline conveyersbricks, every one of which neatly assembledindividual tasks) and can also move through and to identify hard-to-spot structural problems. without any assistance from a human hand. Onearound materials during the process.The high-res cameras allow us to pinpointby one, a fleet of flying robots dropped the pieces into place, guided by mathematical algorithms The high-res camerasthat took digital design data and translated it into flight paths.allow us to pinpointIn the time since, the team has continued corrosion and useto work on improving aerial construction and overcoming weaknesses such as payload that as part of ourcapacity. Federico Augugliaro, a researcher at the Institute for Dynamic Systems and Control, report, says that no longer are the vehicles seen merely as passive onlookers capturing information about an environment, but are engaging withResearchers at ETH Zurich are investigating how corrosion and use that as part of our report, Jimthat environment in a meaningful way throughdrones could be used to build tensile structures (Photo: Allan, Chief Operating Officer at Soto explains.manipulation, construction and the way theyProfessorship for Architecture and Digital Fabrication, ETH Zurich and Institute for Dynamic Systems and The main benefit is the cost saving. It alleviatesinteract with humans. Control, ETH Zurich)the need for cages and harnesses and safetyUnlike cranes, drones have the ability to reachSince it will be difficult to imitate existing requirements are reduced. any point in space, says Agugliaro. To haveconstruction processes because the tools And according to Rory San Miguel, founderdrones work close to humans on a constructionare so radically different, it is likely that the of Australian startup Propeller Aerobotics, theresite, however, their size has to be kept ratherconditions of how things are designed and are significant savings to be made. Much likesmall. This limits the amount of payload they canbuilt will be altered and hence resulting in Skycatch in the US, his company offers dronecarry and the amount of construction materialnew forms of architectural materialization, services to companies looking for cheaper,that can be moved around. says Ammar. History suggests that new tools higher quality aerial data. His aim is to create aThe team is looking to more than just softwareand technologies often shift existing processes. standardized mapping interface for the surveyingand controllers to dictate the drones movement,Drones in construction will enable architectural industry so that companies can benefit fromand are developing techniques that enablematerialization in ways we cannot imagine.consistent, easily digestible data. humans to reposition the drones with theirSo while architectural practices may be There is a AU$4 billion surveying andhands. adapted to suit the capabilities of drones in the mapping industry in Australia, which at theFor the situations when drones and peoplefutureoptimizing a system by which they can moment doesnt involve drones, he tells Gizmag.will work closely together, some sort ofwork productively with lightweight materials is Surveyors are using tools like LIDAR that arecompliant behavior on the drone side is desirable,one way of overcoming the payload problemvery expensive and work very slowly. If we haveboth for safety reasons and convenience, saysits not the only way researchers are approaching a drone take off and fly in a grid pattern, takingAgugliaro. For example, instead of using athis dilemma.a photo every 20 m (65.6 ft), we can cover theremote to pilot the drone, one can simply pushIn February of 2012, Indian roboticist Dr entire site very quickly and build 3D rendersthe drone away. Vijay Kumar delivered a TED Talk revealing the with true absolute accuracy. Like Google Mapswork of his engineering team at the University on steroids. At the same time, the team is partnering withof Pennsylvania robotics lab. He presented a So through monitoring and aerial mapping,ETH Zrich Chair of Architecture and Digitalcontinued on page 26www.mrca.orgMidwest Roofer 23'