This Robotic Construction Worker Actually Finds Its Own Building Material

Amaze Lab

What if I told you this wall wasn’t built by human hands but rather a robot? This is what its developers call HEAP, or the Hydraulic Excavator for an Autonomous Purpose and it could change the way simple construction projects are done forever.

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00:00This wall might not look that impressive, but what if I told you this wasn't built

00:06by human hands, but rather a robot.

00:09This is what its developers call HEAP, or the Hydraulic Excavator for an Autonomous

00:13Purpose, and it could change the way simple construction projects are done forever.

00:18The construction robot has myriad sensors, which let it create a 3D map of the construction

00:22site in real time.

00:23It can then find stones and analyze those as well, determining their weight and center

00:27point of gravity, and then it can assemble them into a structure without human workers

00:31ever getting involved.

00:33What's more, its developers say it reduces overall emissions substantially as well.

00:37With one of HEAP's developers from ETH Zurich, Dr. Lauren Vasey, saying about it, quote,

00:41One such avenue is to rethink and reshape the embodied energy of material systems that

00:46are used in construction.

00:47In particular, developments in on-site robotic building methods offer the opportunity to

00:51leverage context-specific, locally sourced, or upcycled materials that are inexpensive,

00:57abundant, and low in embodied energy.

00:59This is no doubt in response to a metric revealed earlier this year, one that outlined how the

01:03cement industry is responsible for a whopping 8% of all CO2 emissions all on its own, meaning

01:09using AI to discover and repurpose materials to build new structures could be a climate

01:14game-changer.

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