"The construction framework would have likely cost more than the bridge itself, only to be scrapped or recycled upon completion," he told Dezeen. The bridge spans 70 feet across a Los Angeles canyon Mitchell says that while the project could have been executed using traditional fixtures and fabrication techniques, it would have been far more expensive and wasteful, and far less accurate. In total, the project generated less than 500 kilograms of construction waste, all of which was recycled. Scrap steel was also kept to a minimum by precision pre-cutting the structural elements using multi-axis tube laser and waterjet cutting machines. The bridge was assembled on site from 30 sections The robots effectively eliminated the need for formwork in the welding process, cutting down on the usual material waste. Working this way, they welded 600 parts made from A500 tube steel and A572 plate steel into 30 sections. Related story "Post-digital architecture will be rough, provisional and crafted by robots" "Using these methods we were able to hold under one millimetre of tolerance on the robotically positioned nodes, far under the engineers' maximum allowance of six millimetres." "The imprecision of the most basic materials could throw off a day of work." "Early on we realised that the robots are far more accurate than the physical world," said Mitchell. Human welders worked with robots to fuse nearly 600 steel pieces This kind of process is known as collaborative robotics because rather than replacing workers with automation, it has the two working together on the same task. The robots could achieve far more precise positioning than using supporting formwork. The process the group developed had human welders working with industrial robot arms that held the parts in the position required. An industrial robotic arm proved to be the best, if not only, solution," he continued. "In the weeks following the studio I began thinking about the prospect of placing and holding structural members with little or no fixturing. The structure is informed by the veins of leaves
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"While the final steel design was feasible, the geometric complexity and asymmetry would have required impractical amounts of fixturing to hold structural members in position prior to welding," Mitchell told Dezeen.
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Working with the Martin Architecture and Design Workshop ( Madworkshop) and engineering software company Autodesk, the group began investigating how it could be done using robotic assistance.
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The complex geometry meant the design would be nearly impossible to build with traditional manual manufacturing methods. It is made of an intricate web of steel tubing, achieved through parametric design