Self-Organized Construction with Continuous Building Material: Higher Flexibility Based on Braided Structures

Abstract

Self-organized construction with continuous, structuredbuilding material, as opposed to modular units, offersnew challenges to the robot-based construction process andlends the opportunity for increased flexibility in constructedartifact properties, such as shape and deformation. As anexample investigation, we look at continuous filaments organizedinto braided structures, within the context of bio-hybridsconstructing architectural artifacts. We report the result ofan early swarm robot experiment. The robots successfullyconstructed a braid in a self-organized process. The constructionprocess can be extended by using different materials andby embedding sensors during the self-organized constructiondirectly into the braided structure. In future work, we planto apply dedicated braiding robot hardware and to constructsophisticated 3-d structures with local variability in patternsof filament interlacing.