ZeroWaste - Towards Computing Cooperative Robotic Sequences for the Disassembly and Reuse of Timber Frame Structures

Edvard P.G. Bruun, Erin Besler, Sigrid Adriaenssens, Stefana Parascho

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

ZeroWaste is a project about repositioning existing timber building stock within a circular economy framework. Rather than disposing of these buildings at the end of their life, the goal is to view them as stores of valuable resources that can be readily reused. By doing this, material life cycle becomes an integral design consideration alongside planning for the efficient disassembly and reuse of these structures. In this paper, the computational workflow is presented for the first phase of the project: planning a cooperative robotic disassembly sequence for the scaffold-free removal of members from existing timber structures. A pavilion-scale prototype is first constructed, in the Embodied Computation Lab at Princeton University, to represent an existing timber structure built according to conventional North American stick frame construction practices. A multi-directed graph data structure, representing structural member connectivity and support hierarchy, is then coupled with a breadth-first search algorithm to plan potential scaffold-free robotic disassembly sequences given a member removal target. In parallel, computer vision is integrated and implemented through the robotic setup to create an accurate as-built point cloud scan of the whole structure. This as-built information is then used to inform the evaluation of potential robotic sequences from the point of view of robotic reachability and structural performance. This work-in-progress paper first presents a high-level overview of the various components in this workflow, followed by its demonstration in planning the removal of a specific member in the prototype structure. Upcoming project developments will include the planning, and physical demonstration, of more complex disassembly sequences, coupled with reassembly and reuse of the removed members for various regions of the prototype structure.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationHybrids and Haecceities - Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture, ACADIA 2022
EditorsMasoud Akbarzadeh, Dorit Aviv, Hina Jamelle, Robert Stuart-Smith
PublisherACADIA
Pages586-597
Number of pages12
ISBN (Electronic)9798986080581
StatePublished - 2023
Event42nd Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture, ACADIA 2022 - Philadelphia, United States
Duration: Oct 27 2022Oct 29 2022

Publication series

NameHybrids and Haecceities - Proceedings of the 42nd Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture, ACADIA 2022

Conference

Conference42nd Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture, ACADIA 2022
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityPhiladelphia
Period10/27/2210/29/22

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design
  • Hardware and Architecture

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