Experiments in Agent-Based Collective Robotic Construction

25.6.2023 - 1.7.2023 | ICD Workshop
DigitalFutures 2023, Tongji University, Shanghai, China

Samuel Leder, Philipp Kragl, Prof. A. Menges

Experiments in Agent-Based Collective Robotic Construction
DigitalFutures 2023 Workshop

In this workshop, participants will explore the emerging field within construction automation entitled Collective Robotic Construction (CRC). CRC is an automation approach which involves the collaboration of many small robotic machines for the completion of construction tasks. Although there are different methods for the control of CRC systems, this workshop will focus on agent-based modelling and simulation (ABMS) as an approach for the coordination of a swarm of ground robots. Each mobile robot is therefore modeled as digital agent with individual and/or collective behaviors that control the movements of the physical robot and result in the assemble or rearrangement of building elements in physical space.

In the first half of the workshop, participants will be introduced to the fields of CRC and ABMS. On the CRC side, participants will be introduced to existing research within the field and will have hands-on experience with the assembly and operation of a wheeled mobile robot. On the AMBS side, participants will be introduced to ABxM, an interactive agent-based modelling framework created by the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD). This will involve both lectures and hands-on tutorials using ABxM inside of Rhinoceros 3D and Grasshopper.  Further information about the framework and a download link can be found here.

In the second part of workshop, students will be split into teams in order to experiment with the development of their own agent-based model. First, this will be explored with purely digital development in which students will create agent behaviors which determine how the agents interact with one another and their environment. This will involvement negotiating which stimuli or environmental information are expressed in physical space and which in digital space. The models developed by the participants will then be implemented for the coordination of a fleet of physical mobile robots. After participation students will have a general understanding of CRC and more specifically of how ABMS can be utilized for the design and control of automation construction systems composed of multiple mobile robots.

Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD), University of Stuttgart

Samuel Leder, Philipp Kragl, Prof. Achim Menges

College of Architecture and Urban Planning (CAUP), Tongji University, Shanghai

Xingjie Xie

Organized and Supported by

DigitalFuturesWORLD

To the top of the page