May 27th 8.15 – 5.45pm, room 121C, in Philadelphia as part of the IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation venue

Abstract

In addition to improving construction as we know it, CRC may enable novel types of structures and construction in settings that have been deemed too difficult for human labor or traditional automation techniques. This workshop will bring together roboticists who work on algorithms and hardware, architects and civil engineers who advance our understanding of designing and building with these new construction systems, and industry/funding agencies who represent current technological needs. Topics will span safety, industrial and sustainable construction, and future applications such as construction in disaster scenarios and extraterrestrial construction, all with a particular focus on what can be achieved from having many robots work together.

According to the UN Habitat, by 2030 more than 3B people will suffer from inadequate housing, and according to the US Department of Labor more than 20% of US work-related injuries happen in the construction sector. Truly, the need for innovative, safe, efficient, inexpensive, and sustainable construction has never been greater.

Invited Speakers

Amira Abdel-Rahman, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Prof. Andrew Vardy, Memorial University of Newfoundland

Call for Participation

In addition to the invited speakers, we are soliciting participation in the form of lightning talks and poster presentations. The deadline has now passed, please reach out to one of the organizers if you have any questions.

Tentative Schedule

• 8:15-8:45: Opening Remarks and “Overview of the CRC field”, by Prof. Nils Napp, Cornell University.
• 8.45-9.15: “Physically distributed multi-robot coordination and collaboration in construction”, by Dr. Lauren Vasey, ETH Zurich.
• 9.15-9.45:  “Recursive Robotic Swarms”, by Amira Abdel-Rahman, MIT
• 9.45-10.15:  “Human-Robot Collaboration in construction”, by Prof. Vineet Kamat, University of Michigan.
• 10.15-10.45: “The Swarm in the Labyrinth: Planar Construction by a Robot Swarm”, by Prof. Andrew Vardy, Memorial University of Newfoundland
• 10:45-11.00: Coffee break
• 11:00-11:30: “Accelerating Autonomy with Robot Factors”, by Dr. Nathan Melenbrink, Harvard University
• 11:30-12:15: Poster lightning talks
  • 11:30-11:37: Collective Aerial Additive Manufacturing, by R. Stuart-Smith
  • 11:37-11:44: Task and Motion Planning for Collective Robotic Construction, by A. Agrawal
  • 11:44-11:51: Recent work on Construction and Excavation by Double-Tailed SAW Robots, by L. Huang
  • 11:51-11:58: Angle of Repose in Robotic Construction, by Y. Liu
  • 11.58-12.05: Error Correction in Collective Robotic Construction, by J. Chen
  • 12.05-12.12: Design and Simulation of a Multi-robot Architecture for Large-scale Construction Projects, by V. Thangavelu
•  12.15-13.30: Lunch break
• 13.30-14:00: “Multi-Material Construction with Robot Teams”, by Dr. Maira Saboia Da Silva, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
• 14:00-14:30: “Light-weight digital materials and NASA needs”, by Dr. Christine Gregg, NASA Ames
• 14:30-15:00: Poster lightning talks
  • 14.30-14.37: Simulation of a collaborative two-robot system for lattice assembly, by M. Smith
  • 14:37-14:44: RAINSTORM: Rooftop Assembly Inchworm Network and Swarm Tiling Optimization for Rooftop Maintenance, by E. Benevedes
  • 14:44-14:51: Viability of Low-Fidelity Platforms for Autonomous Robotic Construction, by J. Martin
  • 14:51-14:58: Novel robot design for collective transport of soft matter in complex environments, by D. Soto
• 15:00-15:30: Coffee-break and poster setup
• 15:30-16:30: Poster Session
• 16:30-17:15: Closing remarks and discussion lead by Prof. Nils Napp, Cornell University

About the Organizers

The organizers are active contributors to swarm robotics and CRC — they are behind several of the state of the art systems and are behind the recent review in Science Robotics. Specifically:

• Prof. Heiko Hamann has written the definitive book on swarm robotics (Swarm Robotics: A Formal Approach), and has been co-organizing workshops on self-organized construction (SOCO as part of ACSOS the IEEE International Conference on Autonomic Computing and Self-Organizing Systems).

• Dr. Mary Katherine Heinrich is an expert in swarm robotics and bio-hybrid construction systems. She has a background at the intersection of architecture and robotics.

• Prof. Nils Napp is an expert on multi-robot, multi-material construction in unprepared environments and has built state-of-the arts systems in amorphous construction.

• Prof. Kirstin Petersen is an expert in multi-robot coordination and distributed construction and has built and programmed the TERMES system which was featured in and on the cover of Science.