Robotic Landscapes: Designing Formation Processes for Large Scale Autonomous Earth Moving

Abstract

The technological advances in robotic construction equipment for large scale earth moving is revolutionizing how we think and act on terrain. With the development of HEAP, a full scale autonomous walking excavator by the Robotic Systems Lab of Professor Marco Hutter within the NCCR Digital Fabrication ETH Zurich [1], we will be able to shape large-scale natural granular material like sand, soil and gravel with unprecedented geometrical complexity according to a precise digital blueprint. The robotic platform enables feedback loops between the physical reality, the existing terrain and the proposed computational design, creating new potential for dynamic landscapes that can change over time. The ability to search, recognize and manipulate locally found materials allows us to rethink the design of the built environment to be economically and environmentally regenerative. In order to explore new applications and design methods for autonomous earth moving, a series of design studio has been implemented at the ETH Zurich as a collaboration between Professor Christophe Girot Chair of Landscape Architecture and Gramazio Kohler Research Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication. This article discusses the developed methods and techniques, as well as the experimental implementation within these studios. Rather than focusing on designing with explicit shapes or geometry, the students were encouraged to explore the making of form through a procedural understanding of robotic movements, computational design and granular material interaction.