No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

An increasing number of geometrically complex building envelopes and large-spanning structures is constructed using timber as a load-bearing material. Among recently completed projects, two prevailing implementations of wood can be observed. First type are structures consisting of engineered timber products such as glulam, where elements with complex geometries are connected by custom-made steel nodes (e.g. see Figure 3(a)) in which also geometric complexity is accommodated. Examples for this strategy are the canopy of the Canary Wharf Crossrail station in London, UK, or many salt dome structures. Second type represents custom-made beams, often milled at length into a curved shape, with notched connections as known from traditional joinery. Built structures following this approach are the roofs of the Centre Pompidou in Metz, France, and the Nine Bridges Golf Club in Yeoju-gun, South Korea. However, with the aid of robotic assembly, free-form envelopes can be constructed from short and simple linear

This paper presents a novel robotic assembly method for timber structures with integral timber joints, specifically, crossed-half-lap joints. The proposed method uses a set of custom-built, remote-controlled, high-force robotic clamps to operate in collaboration with an industrial robotic arm to overcome challenges of robotic timber joint assembly, such as providing large assembly forces and correcting misalignments. This method enables automatic assembly of non-repetitive and spatially connected timber structures. We developed custom software for modelling, visualization and feasibility-checking for structures compatible with the proposed assembly method. As a proof of concept, we designed and robotically assembled a spatial frame structure (4.8 x 3.0m footprint, 3.4m tall) comprising 40 pieces of 100x100mm profile timber elements.