Giant robots are building a futuristic house in Switzerland

DFAB House by ETH Zurich

Researchers from <a href="https://www.ethz.ch/en.html" target="_blank">ETH Zurich</a> University plan to use <a href="http://inhabitat.com/robots-2/" target="_blank">robots</a> and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/3d-printing/" target="_blank">3D printers</a> to build what will be "the first house in the world to be designed, planned and built using predominantly digital processes". The DFAB House will bring together different digital building innovations, including 3D printing, robotic fabrication processes and prefab construction, fusing all the best of emerging technologies into one incredible space.

The researchers will collaborate with business partners to build the three-story, 656-square-foot house as part of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication project.

"Unlike construction projects that use only a single digital building technology, such as 3D-printed houses, the DFAB House brings a range of new digital building technologies together," said the project's initiator, ETH professor Matthias Kohler.

They will build it at NEST– research facility in Dübendorf, Switzerland, operated by the Empa institute.

A six-foot tall robot mounted on caterpillar tracks will build steel-wire mesh sections which will have a dual role–it will function as formwork and reinforcement for concrete walls.

The mesh is then filled with a concrete mix that forms a load-bearing wall topped with a 3D-printed ceiling slab.

The house is scheduled to complete in summer 2018.

It will function as a residential and working space for guest researchers and partners of the NEST project.

DFAB House by ETH Zurich