Autonomous Robot Builds Stable, Recyclable Stone Walls
Construction provides the backbone for industries including manufacturing, transportation, civil engineering and agriculture. Yet, it lacks enough resources to meet continuously growing needs for infrastructure. Now, a 12-ton autonomous robot offers a sustainable blueprint for moving forward. The excavating machine can scan, digitally inventory and stack materials such as boulders and recycled concrete — all without help from humans. While it uses its skillset to build freestanding, mortarless stone walls, the robot also develops 3D repositories of the materials it uses, making it easier to recycle and repurpose those materials if needed. "By maintaining a digital inventory of the materials within buildings, it becomes easier to plan for reuse before the wrecking ball arrives on site,