We wrote last week about Swiss architects Gramazio & Kohler‘s ‘Flight Assembled Architecture’ exhibition of hovering mechanical bricklayers, and now there’s video proof! The demonstration, which took place December 2 and will be repeated through February, featured flying robots carefully constructing the walls of a curving 6-meter-tall tower. The fleet functions autonomously under the aegis of a 3d program dubbed the “Foreman,” with each unit fitted with motion sensors to respond to the flight patterns of the other. The helicopters alternate their movements, taking turns to lay each of the 1,500 foam bricks that comprise the pixelated tower, and recharging as they wait in the wings. Watching the action unfold, each helicopter zooms into the frame, brick in tow, buoyed directly above their projected destination, before lowing abruptly with a less than graceful “plop.” The installation is believed to be the first display of unmanned, flight-enabled construction which could offer insight into the future of building practices.

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by Samuel Medina

posted in news Video

tagged construction, flight assembled architecture, helicopters, robots, sci-fi, technology

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