Earlier this year in the i-3 program at Georgia Tech we were tasked with designing a robotic mechanism to better the environment surrounding us, as well as humanity in general. When I heard this, at first I was stumped. Other than renewable energy, I couldn't think of anything I could do to meet this description. My inspiration came one day on the way to Ultimate Frisbee practice. We were driving through some of the worst parts of town, and I was appalled by some of the rough conditions people were living in: run-down, abandoned, rotting houses, which most definitely did not meet any kind of safety code. When I got home, I did some research. I found that the housing given to refugees, such as those forced from their homes by Hurricane Katrina or the Syrian civil war, was extremely rudimentary. They were usually given tents in these camps, tents meant for people to inhabit for perhaps a month at most. Unfortunately, the majority of refugees end up living in these "temporary" camps for much longer periods of time. I thought, "Why not design something to provide these people with a much better living space?" And so, Constructo-Bot was born...
Initially, we wanted to design a shelter that would provide the inhabitants with a much better shelter. But then we realized the amount man power neccessary to build these camps, and that a quick setup would be a key to success. To solve this problem, we developed Constructo-Bot, which would construct a rudimentary plywood shelter very quickly and efficiently, providing refugees and other displaced individuals with a sense of safety and security that a tent could not provide. This is the prototype that I made using Google SketchUp:
How it works:
As you can see in the pictures and videos below, the Bot is configured in two separate compartments. One compartment holds the beams used to build the building skeleton, the other has the plywood panels used to construct the walls. Initially the Bot would be preloaded with a design for a shelter, as well as a map of the area it would be building in. Once brought to the site by a handler, it would begin constructing the pre-loaded design. First, it would construct the frame of the house by extending the arm with the stakes attached, then driving them into the ground in the design dictated by the programming. After it finished that task, it would then return and place the plywood panels by using a built-in nail gun to hold them in place. The basic chassis could be configured in endless ways, from the standard Constructo-Bot to a roofing, flooring, or even warehouse-stocking models. In theory, the standard bot would construct the rudimentary living spaces, and would be followed by more specialized models to add the flooring and roofing. The Bot-made structures are preferable to man-made structures due to the speed and efficiency at which they build, as well as their easy transportation. They do not require living spaces for themselves as aid workers do, and the only sustenance they require is gasoline (they have the potential to be solar-powered as well). In the event of a natural disaster, such as Katrina, 20 of these could be deployed quickly to construct shelters and living spaces for both the refugees and the arriving aid workers.
Here is the final product made by me in Google SketchUp:
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