Automated Brick Laying Robot - Construction Robotics

[Alan]

"Significant outcomes so far include programming the arm to move a brick, making and testing the usb interface board to control the position of the arm along the track and development of an over head crane."

http://www.nick-hardman.co.uk/

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8351940797364475450&q=robot

[BronzeG3]

when i saw the subject, I thought it was dealing with actual bricks. Then I saw the lego tracks, and thought it was a lego brick stacker. I was still wrong. Oh well. It is a nice robot, but slow even with the video going at 4x. Now I want to dig out my old lego set, get some mosftets for motor control, and build one of those myself

[Alan]

[Nick Hardman]

Hey guys! Thanks for noticing my work!

The project was constructed using parts purchased off ebay and local hardware stores.

It was my final year project whilst at bradford uni (uk) studying cybernetics.

The robot is technically blind, it doesnt know when its picked up or dropped a brick.

I've just put the project report online for anyone who is interested. This can be downloaded from http://www.nick-hardman.co.uk/Final%20Report.doc - Its about 40 pages of work, and 40 pages of code. Not the most interesting read but contains some cool pictures and links to REAL CONSTRUCTION ROBOTICS (japan's takenaka corp. have the most), also you should check www.contourcrafting.org (developed in calidfornia) - its a house printer!

In this report, you can get the systems model, all the code (vb.net) and background work. You can also see pictures of a lego crane system which I installed into my livingroom whilst experimenting with the project.

I hope this is of interest - if anyone wants to develop this futher (not that there is much point as its only a prototype and much better construction robotics are out there) give me a shout.

Nick Hardman
http://www.nick-hardman.co.uk

Striped Monkey Web Design
http://www.stripedmonkey.com