Architectural fabrication of tensile structures with flying machines

The paper presents a manufacturing process for the erection of tensile structures with flying robots. Analogies are drawn to existing methods of aerial construction and robotic fabrication in architecture. Firstly, we describe a set of aerial building instructions for the vehicles, such as an assembly of a node and the erection of a link. Secondly, we investigate combinations of these instructions as prototypical structural arrangements and identify distinct characteristics for architectural production. 2 AERIAL ROBOTIC CONSTRUCTION OF TENSILE STRUCTURES 2.1 Aerial construction Speculative architecture with flying machines exists for centuries. As a fantastic novel (Swift 1726), an architectural utopia (Krutikov 1928) or a hypothetical concept (Cook 1969), aerial architecture has always been a research interest. In architectural fabrication, flying machines are applied on construction sites since the 1950’s (Carter et al. 1963). Helicopters in construction are most commonly used to lift building materials and to transport it to remote locations with no access to streets. In highline construction such aerial cranes carry power poles to designated locations where they are assembled by workers on the ground. Helicopters are also applied to lift rotors for the erection of wind wheels or to string cables for the construction of suspension bridges (Cooper 1998). Another method of construction with aerial vehicles is the use of balloons (Gablenz & Spaltmann 2011) using lighter than air technology to generate lift. The balloons filled with helium hoist construction elements similarly to a crane. The position of the balloon and its cargo is controlled by individually adjusting the length of three cables connecting the balloon to the ground. A third technique of aerial construction was presented for the assembly of the Siduhe River Bridge (Wang et al. 2009). The installation of the suspension cables across the 500 m deep valley began with the placement of two pilot cables. The 1300 m long ropes were attached to two rockets and fired over the canyon to erect a link between the two sides.