Continuous Mobile Thin-Layer On-Site Printing

• Published in: Automation in construction 2023-02, Vol.146, p.104634, Article 104634
• Main Authors: Ercan Jenny, Selen, Pietrasik, Lukasz L., Sounigo, Eliott, Tsai, Ping-Hsun, Gramazio, Fabio, Kohler, Matthias, Lloret-Fritschi, Ena, Hutter, Marco
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Cementitious Plasterwork; Continuous Mobile 3D Printing; On-Site Workflow; Prediction and Visualization of Material Behaviour
• ISSN: 0926-5805; 1872-7891
• DOI: 10.1016/j.autcon.2022.104634

•Vertical, spray-based, thin-layer printing technique using cementitious plaster.•Printing-in-motion on-site in 1:1 scale, in a real building setting.•Perceptive Model Predictive Control on a differential drive mobile manipulator.•Work area selection and trajectory generation in relation to building elements.•Prediction and visualization of complex-to-simulate material behavior. Quasi-static robotic systems and discrete fabrication strategies fall short of the capabilities needed for automating on-site plastering, which involves operating over large spans and maintaining material continuity. This paper presents continuous, mobile Robotic Plaster Spraying (RPS) – a thin-layer, spray-based printing-in-motion technique using cementitious plaster – realized on a prototypical construction site. The experimental setup consists of a fully mobile, custom wheeled base that is synchronized with a robotic arm, and an integrated pumping and spraying system. In this 1:1 scale application, the print layers are executed during the motion of the mobile robot and they are printed vertically on the walls of an existing building structure. The experiments showcase the potentials of producing bespoke – three-dimensional – or standardized – flat – plasterwork with the proposed technique. The results demonstrate the applicability and scalability of RPS and the findings contribute to the research on mobile additive fabrication.