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Aerial Additive Manufacturing |  AML-Penn 

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(Visit Penn’s Autonomous Manufacturing Lab (AML) website for more details)
Additive manufacturing methods using static and mobile robots are being developed for both on-site construction and off-site prefabrication. Here we introduce a method of additive manufacturing, referred to as aerial additive manufacturing (Aerial-AM), that utilizes a team of aerial robots inspired by natural builders such as wasps who use collective building methods. We present a scalable multi-robot three-dimensional (3D) printing and path-planning framework that enables robot tasks and population size to be adapted to variations in print geometry throughout a building mission. The multi-robot manufacturing framework allows for autonomous three-dimensional printing under human supervision, real-time assessment of printed geometry and robot behavioural adaptation. Aerial-AM allows manufacturing in-flight and offers future possibilities for building in unbounded, at-height or hard-to-access locations.

Research Team:
Research Leaders: Mirko Kovac (PI), Robert Stuart-Smith (Co-I), Stefan Leutenegger (Co-I), Vijay Pawar (Co-I), Richard Ball (Co-I), Chris Williams (Co-I) and Paul Shephard (Co-I), and their respective research teams at Imperial College, University College London, University of Bath, University of Pennsylvania, Queen Mary University, and University of Munich.

Researchers: Zhang, K., Chermprayong, P., Xiao, F., Tzoumanikas, D., Dams, B., Kay, S., Kocer, B. B., Burns, A., Orr, L., Choi, C., Darekar, D. D., Li, W., Hirschmann, S., Soana, V., Ngah, S. A., Sareh, S., Choubey, A

Industrial Adivsors:
Cementation Skanska, Burohappold, Ultimaker, BRE

Image Credits:
  • Aerial AM Cementitious 3d print using a custom buildDrone with a delta-arm manipulator. Aerial Robotics Lab, Imperial college.
  • Aerial AM foam 3d print. Sarah Lever photography. Autonomous Manufacturing lab, UCL.
  • Timelapse light trace demonstrating multi-agent coordination of Aerial AM robot team. Autonomous Manufacturing lab, UCL
  • Multi-Agent Aerial AM Simulations. Autonomous Manufacturing lab, University of Pennsylvania