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Scientists Discover Way to Send Information into Black Holes Without Using Energy

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These Tiny Robots Can Build Buildings Using Real Wood!

Imagine a construction site where dozens of small robots work together like a team of builders. Instead of relying on one massive construction machine, these robots could move around, connect with building materials, rearrange themselves, and cooperate to assemble structures.

Researchers led by Samuel Leder have developed a modular collective robotic construction system that brings this idea closer to reality. What makes the approach particularly interesting is that the robots don't simply manipulate special laboratory materials. They use timber struts—wooden structural elements commonly used in construction—as both building materials and parts of the robotic system itself.

The research combines robotics, architecture, and computer science into a single construction workflow designed for flexible, on-site building.

From Factory Robots to Flexible Construction Teams

Robots are already used extensively in manufacturing and construction-related processes. However, most industrial robots operate in highly controlled environments where everything is carefully positioned and predictable.

Construction sites are very different.

Workers, machines, materials, and partially completed structures can all occupy the same space. Conditions can change during construction, and the physical environment may not perfectly match a digital model.

This makes traditional industrial robots difficult to deploy directly on real construction sites.

Collective robotic construction offers a different approach. Instead of depending on one large and expensive machine, multiple smaller robots can cooperate and adapt to changing tasks.

Previous research has demonstrated two broad strategies.

In the first, robots themselves become part of the structure. In the second, robots act as manipulators that move and assemble separate building materials.

Both approaches have advantages, but also limitations.

Robots that become part of a structure can be highly reconfigurable, but scaling them up creates challenges involving power, complexity, and structural stability. Meanwhile, robots that only manipulate materials can construct larger structures, but many experimental systems depend on highly customized materials that are not commonly used in the construction industry.

The new system attempts to combine the strengths of both approaches.

The Robot and the Building Material Become One System

The research team developed a construction system consisting of robotic actuators and timber struts.

These components can connect together to form what are essentially modular robotic chains.

A useful way to understand this is to compare the system with a robotic arm.

A conventional robotic arm has links and joints. These joints allow the arm to move in different directions and perform tasks.

In the new system, however, the chains can break apart, reconnect, and change their configuration during construction.

Timber struts can become structural links, while robotic actuators provide movement and control.

This creates a system where the same collection of components can take on different configurations depending on what needs to be built.

For example, additional timber struts or robotic actuators can be introduced when a more complicated movement is required. They can also help the system create different geometries or modify the structure while construction is still underway.

The goal is to achieve greater flexibility without requiring a huge number of robotic actuators.

Three Critical Abilities

The researchers tested the system through five physical demonstrations designed around three fundamental construction tasks.

1. Locomotion

The robotic system needs to move around its working environment.

Because timber components can become part of the robot's body, the configuration of the system can change as it moves.

This provides an important foundation for future construction robots that won't necessarily remain fixed in one location.

2. Dynamic Reconfiguration

The robots must also be capable of changing how their components are connected.

This is one of the most important features of the system.

A configuration useful for one construction task may not be suitable for another. Instead of using a completely different machine, the robotic system can potentially rearrange its components.

This allows the same hardware to perform different roles during construction.

3. Collaborative Transportation

Building materials often need to be moved into position before they can be assembled.

The experiments therefore also tested whether multiple robotic components could cooperate to transport timber struts.

This demonstrates an important principle: the robots don't necessarily have to work independently. They can work together to accomplish tasks that may be difficult for a single machine.

Software Decides What the Robots Should Do

Hardware is only one part of the challenge.

For a system like this to work autonomously, software must determine what needs to happen and how the robots should move to accomplish it.

The researchers developed task and motion planning methods, known as TAMP, to coordinate these activities.

At a high level, the system can determine construction sequences and movement paths based on the desired task.

The computational system then translates those decisions into movements that can be carried out by the robotic actuators.

A centralized perception system also helps identify errors and make corrections.

This combination of robotic hardware, planning software, computational architectural design, and perception is important because construction cannot simply follow a fixed sequence forever. Real environments contain unexpected variations.

Why Timber Matters

One of the biggest differences between this research and many earlier experimental robotic construction systems is the use of a real construction material.

Timber is already widely used in buildings and structural applications.

Using a familiar material could make the concept more relevant to actual architectural construction than systems that depend on highly specialized laboratory materials.

The researchers are essentially exploring whether construction materials themselves can become part of a robotic system.

That creates an interesting relationship between the machine and the building.

Instead of having a robot completely separate from the structure it is constructing, some of the components used by the robot eventually become part of the architectural artifact.

Smaller Robots Could Offer Major Advantages

Collective robotic construction could also address several limitations of large industrial machines.

Large construction robots often require significant setup space, specialized power systems, and anchoring.

A collection of smaller mobile machines could potentially operate across much larger areas.

Their movement range would not necessarily be limited by the reach of one robotic arm.

Another advantage is parallel operation.

Multiple robots could potentially perform different tasks simultaneously, allowing construction activities to happen in different locations at the same time.

The system could also be more resilient to individual failures. If one robotic actuator stops working, other machines could potentially continue the operation or replace its function.

There is also the possibility of reducing costs compared with large industrial-scale robotic installations.

A Step Toward Autonomous Construction

The researchers describe their work as groundwork for a future autonomous collective robotic construction system.

The demonstrations are still proof-of-concept experiments rather than a complete autonomous construction site.

However, they show that three fundamental capabilities—movement, dynamic reconfiguration, and collaborative material handling—can be integrated into a modular robotic construction approach.

The bigger idea is not simply to create robots that can build.

It is to create a construction system that can adapt itself to the task.

As robotic hardware, planning algorithms, perception systems, and architectural design methods continue to develop, such systems could potentially become more capable of operating in the unpredictable environments found on real construction sites.

For now, Samuel Leder and his team have demonstrated an important step: robots and real building materials can be designed as parts of the same flexible construction system.

That could eventually change the role of robots in architecture—from machines that simply perform predefined construction tasks to mobile, collaborative teams capable of adapting as a building takes shape.

Reference: S. Leder, H. Kim, O. S. Oguz, N. Kubail Kalousdian, V. N. Hartmann, A. Menges, M. Toussaint, M. Sitti, Leveraging Building Material as Part of the In-Plane Robotic Kinematic System for Collective Construction. Adv. Sci. 2022, 9, 2201524. https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202201524

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