AI-optimized plant sculpture
Semiramis by Gramazio Kohler Research
© Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zürich
Semiramis is the name of this 22,5-m-tall plant sculpture comprising five connected pods designed by researchers from ETH Zurich with support from artificial intelligence and assembled by four robots. The project, which stands in Zug, combines key elements of the future world of construction: interactive design, AI and robotics.
© Tech Cluster Zug
AI should surprise
Gramazio Kohler Research and the Swiss Data Science Center conceived and trained the AI-based neural network. In turn, this network arranged five planter pods in such a way that they form the best possible connection for their size and also provide shelter from sun and rain for passers-by. The aim of the AI was to create unexpected combinations that should open up new solutions to architects.
Robots can dance
Four robots took on the super-precise fabrication of the planter pods, each of which consists of 14 segments. Sensors ensured that the quartet lent a hand in what is known as a multi-robot assembly process. Of course, the project would not have worked without human beings.
© Pascal Bach / Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zürich
Although robots positioned the heavy panels, they had to be glued by employees of the Robotic Fabrication Laboratory at ETH Zurich, who used a special casting resin to fill the 3 mm joints.
Construction technology will benefit
Using robots not only guaranteed the greatest precision; the innovative fabrication process made superfluous any form of subconstruction. Moreover, the AI supported designers right from the development stage. This continuous, digitized method could set an example, particularly as the researchers have immersively examined every 3D-rendered variants at actual scale.
Team: Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zürich in Zusammenarbeit mit: Müller Illien Landschaftsarchitekten, Timbatec Holzbauingenieure Schweiz AG; Matthias Kohler, Fabio Gramazio, Sarah Schneider, Matteo Pacher, Aleksandra Apolinarska, Pascal Bach, Gonzalo Casas, Philippe Fleischmann, Matthias Helmreich, Michael Lyrenmann, Beverly Lytle, Romana Rust
Bauherr: Urban Assets Zug AG
Standort: Zug, Schweiz (CH)
General contractor: Erne AG Holzbau
Industry partners: TS3 AG; Intrinsic
Selected experts: Computational Robotics Lab, ETH Zürich - Krispin Wandel, Bernhard Thomaszewsky, Roi Poranne, Stelian Coros; Swiss Data Science Center - Luis Salamanca, Fernando Perez-Cruz; Chair for Timber Structures, ETH Zürich
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