The research project Robotic Rammed Earth aims to develop a robotic manufacturing process for components of rammed earth, an ancient construction technique used for millenia. Traditionally, rammed earth is produced through manual layered compaction within a formwork using wooden or pneumatic tampers, a process that remains labour-intensive and inefficient compared to other contemporary building processes. Since rammed earth gains its stability solely from mechanical compaction (rather than chemical curing as in concrete) formwork is only required at the moment and location of compaction. The project therefore focuses on creating an actively moved formwork and a robot-mounted compaction tool to achieve higher precision, consistent quality and economic advantages. This work builds on insights from earlier student-led experiments at TU Braunschweig’s “Digital Building Fabrication Studio” (DBFS), where the fundamental concept was tested with collaborative robots.
The working program includes defining material properties, developing and optimizing compaction and feeding tools, designing an automated process chain, implementing a digital workflow at the Digital Building Fabrication Laboratory (DBFL), and realising a full-scale demonstrator. Further tasks involve evaluating economic potential and documenting results for dissemination. The project integrates digital and physical testing to analyse the influence of process parameters on specimen performance. Conducted at the Institute of Structural Design (ITE) at TU Braunschweig, the project is supported by the Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung within the Zukunft Bau program.
Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung; Zukunft Bau
[1] Kloft, Harald; Gosslar, Joschua; Fernández-Barba, Daniel (2024): Robotergestützte Fabrikation von Bauteilen aus Stampflehm. BBSR-Online-Publikation (Zukunft Bau Forschungsförderung, 2024, 60). Bonn: Bundesinstitut für Bau-, Stadt- und Raumforschung. doi.org/10.58007/n7c1-f114, checked on 01/23/2025.
[2] Kloft, Harald; Oechsler, Johannes; Loccarini, Federica; Gosslar, Joschua; Delille, Charlotte (2019): Robotische Fabrikation von Bauteilen aus Stampflehm. In Deutsche Bauzeitschrift (DBZ) (7/8), pp. 54–59. Available online at www.dbz.de/artikel/dbz_Robotische_Fabrikation_von_Bauteilen_aus_Stampflehm-3390495.html, checked on 1/22/2024.
