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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00:00 [Music]
00:03 This wall might not look that impressive,
00:05 but what if I told you this wasn't built by human hands,
00:07 but rather a robot?
00:09 This is what its developers call HEAP,
00:11 or the Hydraulic Excavator for an Autonomous Purpose,
00:14 and it could change the way simple construction projects are done forever.
00:18 The construction robot has myriad sensors,
00:20 which let it create a 3D map of the construction site in real time.
00:23 It can then find stones and analyze those as well,
00:26 determining their weight and center point of gravity,
00:28 and then it can assemble them into a structure without human workers ever getting involved.
00:32 What's more, its developers say it reduces overall emissions substantially as well,
00:37 with one of HEAP's developers from ETH Zurich, Dr. Loren Vasey, saying about it, quote,
00:41 "One such avenue is to rethink and reshape the embodied energy of material systems that are used in construction.
00:47 In particular, developments in on-site robotic building methods
00:50 offer the opportunity to leverage context-specific, locally sourced, or upcycled materials
00:55 that are inexpensive, abundant, and low in embodied energy."
00:59 This is no doubt in response to a metric revealed earlier this year,
01:02 one that outlined how the cement industry is responsible for a whopping 8% of all CO2 emissions all on its own,
01:08 meaning using AI to discover and repurpose materials to build new structures
01:12 could be a climate game-changer.
01:15 [Music]