NEWS
Meet Robotic Rodin
A new construction robot based in the University’s Digital Architecture Robotics Lab (DARLAB) promises to be the ultimate digital building assistant
The first robot of its kind to be housed in a UK academic institution, Robotic Rodin can craft impossible structures and create architectural art to the finest level of detail. Effectively a fully automated robotic building companion, it can pick up tools, cut and join materials, place parts and finish sophisticated building components, all without any human intervention.
DARLAB was set up by Federico Rossi, Academic Leader for Digital Architecture Robotics. ‘Industrial robots are fascinating architects, artists and designers, but they have yet to be fully adopted as part of the “design to production” process,’ he says. ‘However, with the advent of digital fabrication comes the potential to turn these robots into intuitive design tools.’
Rodin starts by assessing the proposed construction job, then generates a sequence of actions, selecting the tools it needs to build the final part with precision accuracy. Highly industrious, it works continuously to complete the task with maximum efficiency, reducing waste and guaranteeing a perfect build every time.
‘Our aim at DARLAB is to encourage experimentation and collaboration across architecture, engineering and design,’ says Federico. ‘We are bringing cutting-edge technology to assist makers from all disciplines to obtain the best results in construction. This is an incredibly inspiring facility for students, researchers and industry, and I am looking forward to seeing this new technology shaping the future of construction.’
Lifesaving robots to be developed at new centre of excellence
Robots capable of venturing into potentially deadly environments will be developed at a new centre of excellence launched by LSBU and TWI, one of the largest research and technology organisations in Europe
Structures such as nuclear reactors and offshore oil and gas platforms require continuous safety checks. These can put inspectors at significant risk – and there is also a chance that manual inspections will fail to spot major defects. The new London South Bank Innovation Centre (LSBIC) aims to tackle both issues by creating autonomous robotic systems (pictured right) that can carry out inspections by themselves.
The new Centre will be led by robotics specialist Professor Tariq Sattar of the
School of Engineering. ‘This is a wonderful opportunity to take our prototypes to the next stage of readiness to perform inspection tasks,’ he says. ‘They will keep human operators out of harm’s way and reduce downtime and outages.’
The new Centre shines a spotlight on LSBU’s expertise. ‘The UK’s industrial strategy identifies robotics as one of the eight technologies in which the UK is set to be a world leader,’ says Professor David Mba, Dean of the School of Engineering and
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member of the LSBIC board. ‘This will showcase the impact of many years of pioneering research in robotics at LSBU.’
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