This Robot Construction Worker Finds Its Own Material to Build With

Amaze Lab

What if I told you this wall wasn’t built by human hands but rather a robot? This is what its developers call HEAP, or the Hydraulic Excavator for an Autonomous Purpose and it could change the way simple construction projects are done forever.

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00:00 [Music]

00:03 This wall might not look that impressive,

00:05 but what if I told you this wasn't built by human hands,

00:07 but rather a robot?

00:09 This is what its developers call HEAP,

00:11 or the Hydraulic Excavator for an Autonomous Purpose,

00:14 and it could change the way simple construction projects are done forever.

00:18 The construction robot has myriad sensors,

00:20 which let it create a 3D map of the construction site in real time.

00:23 It can then find stones and analyze those as well,

00:26 determining their weight and center point of gravity,

00:28 and then it can assemble them into a structure without human workers ever getting involved.

00:32 What's more, its developers say it reduces overall emissions substantially as well,

00:37 with one of HEAP's developers from ETH Zurich, Dr. Loren Vasey, saying about it, quote,

00:41 "One such avenue is to rethink and reshape the embodied energy of material systems that are used in construction.

00:47 In particular, developments in on-site robotic building methods

00:50 offer the opportunity to leverage context-specific, locally sourced, or upcycled materials

00:55 that are inexpensive, abundant, and low in embodied energy."

00:59 This is no doubt in response to a metric revealed earlier this year,

01:02 one that outlined how the cement industry is responsible for a whopping 8% of all CO2 emissions all on its own,

01:08 meaning using AI to discover and repurpose materials to build new structures

01:12 could be a climate game-changer.

01:15 [Music]

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