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Watch out builders! Super-robot can move around construction sites and arrange bricks without any human help

The robotic arm is fitted with a laser range finder used to build 3D maps
This map helps the robot navigate around a construction site unaided
It is also fitted with sensors can cameras that measure distance and orientation to make sure it doesn't hit people or objects
Site robots could help with heavy-lifting tasks and reduce planning time

Published: 09:25 EST, 22 October 2015 | Updated: 18:37 EST, 22 October 2015

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In the future your home could be built by advanced robo-builders able to navigate entire construction sites with ease.

Zurich-based architects and roboticists have created the 'In-situ Fabricator', an autonomous construction robot capable of laying bricks into various structures.

The robotic arm is fitted with lasers and sensors and can create 3D maps of sites within minutes.

Zurich-based architects and roboticists have created the 'In-situ Fabricator', an autonomous construction robot capable of laying bricks into pre-programmed structures (pictured)

In-situ Fabricator has been designed at the Swiss National Center of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication laboratory by a team of experts led by Matthias Kohler.

Professor Kohler, an architect from ETH Zurich, explained that the robot is 'the first machine that can actually go on construction sites and build non-standard designs, meaning designs which can vary and adapt to the local conditions directly in the building site.'

HADRIAN THE ROBO-BRICKLAYER

An inventor wants to turn the world of bricklaying on its head with a robot that can out-perform even the most motivated builders.

Called Hadrian, it can lay 1,000 bricks and hour and work around the clock - and could apparently build 150 homes a year.

The robot has a boom 92ft (28 metres) long that is connected to its main body.

At the end is a robotic ‘hand’ that can grab bricks, pick them up, and place them down in sequence.

A 3D computer-aided design (CAD) is used to work out the shape of the house or structure required, and the robot then calculates where each brick should go.

It can even leave spaces for wiring and plumbing, and scans and cuts the bricks if they need to be re-shaped.

In a video, the robot is shown picking up bricks from a conveyor belt and placing them in a pyramid shape.

It consists of an industrial robotic arm on a mobile base and is designed to be self-contained, without the need for outside help.

Its 2D-laser range finder works with specially-designed computer algorithms to create a 3D map of a site linked to structural plans.

This map allows the robot to know its location at all times and move around a construction site unaided.

It can also adapt to minor design changes as it continues to scan its environment.

Research supervisor Professor Jonas Buchli told Reuters: 'The construction site for us, as robotics researchers, is an interesting environment.

'It's somewhere between the completely planned and controlled environment of a factory or a lab floor, and the completely chaotic environment of outdoors, so it's kind of a semi-structured environment where we can test and develop the technology that is required for robots to move around and do useful things in such environments.

In addition to laser range finder, the In-situ Fabricator is fitted with a series of sensors that measure distance.

Its 2D-laser range finder works with specially-designed computer algorithms to create a 3D map (pictured) of a site linked to structural plans. This map allows the robot to know its location at all times and move around a construction site unaided. It can also adapt to minor design variations as it continues to scan its environment

Elsewhere, there is an inertial measurement unit (IMU) that measures the orientation of the robot in any space.

By combining the data from all of these sensors, it can accurately identify where on the site it is.

There are also two computers on board the robot.

'One for the arm and one for the overall robot,' continued Professor Buchli. 'On these computers we online calculate the required information for the robot to move and know where it is.'

Professor Kohler added that a robot builder would have multiple benefits, not least in terms of reducing the planning time required before building begins.

In addition to the laser range finder, the In-situ Fabricator is fitted with sensors that measure distance. There is also an inertial measurement unit (IMU) that measures the orientation of the robot in any space. By combining the data from all of these sensors, it can accurately identify its surroundings (pictured)

There are also two computers on board the robot. One for the arm and one for the overall robot. These computers are used to calculate the required information for the robot to move and know where it is. In a video, the robot is shown picking bricks from a conveyor belt and placing them in a pyramid shape

'The benefit from an architectural point of view is that you can really design the construction directly, so you can plan for how it is built instead of designing your plan and then that plan afterwards being converted on the construction site' he said.

'So it actually changes the paradigm of how you design and build quite fundamentally,' he said.

'I think this will become a game-changer in construction. I think that in the next five to ten years we are going to see mobile robots on the construction site, but they're not going to replace humans.

'They'll actually collaborate with humans, so the best of each kind of skills come together.'