Flying Robots Get Ready To Construct 20-Feet Exhibition Tower

A fleet of flying robots are about to try out a brand-new profession - Construction. Their first project will not be a giant skyscraper, but an exhibition tower that measures 11.4ft. wide and 19.7 ft. high - Built entirely from pre-fabricated polystyrene foam modules.

The 50 Quadcopters that will simultaneously lift, transport and assemble the tower within the confines of a 32 x 32 x 32 foot airspace, have been pre-programmed to receive real-time instructions from a human situated in a local control room. Though each robot is fitted with custom electronics and sensors so that it can fly autonomously without crashing into each other, they will also be supervised by a special Fleet Management Technology, should they get too close to another robot. That same technology will also monitor the take-offs, landings and even, re-charging.

The brainchild of Swiss architects Gramazio & Kohler and Italian robot designer Raffaello D'Andrea, the project is being undertaken to inspire new methods of thinking about architecture as a "physical process of dynamic formation".

The construction of this first-ever robot built tower, dubbed 'Flight Assembled Architecture' is scheduled to take place at the FRAC center in Orleans, France on December 2nd, 3rd and 4th, where it will also be exhibited for all to see, until February 2012.

Resources: gizmag.com, frac-center-fr, constructionweeklyonline.com