"Mobile robotic factory" deployed to create modular housing for LA wildfire recovery
US home builder Cosmic Buildings and technology company ABB Robotics have collaborated on a temporary robotic construction system housed in a tent to produce modular housing to aid in the recovery of the Los Angeles wildfires earlier this year.
Cosmic Buildings (Cosmic) created one of its Micro-Factories, consisting of a tent in a vacant Los Angeles plot in Pacific Palisades. It is outfitted with one large robotic arm produced by technology company ABB Robotics (ABB).
The robot, which sits at the centre of the tent, pieces together two-inch x six-inch lumber boards to create a frame, and then nails plywood pieces to the structure to create a standardised wall panel for home-building.
The panels are then used to create a variety of pre-existing modular single-family house designs by Cosmic, as the company specialises in producing ADUs.
Two people are needed to feed the materials to the robot and to offload the finished panel. Cosmic CEO Sasha Jokic said the system produces a panel in about 20 minutes, and that the whole full frame of the house can be completed in 10 days, decreasing construction time by 70 per cent overall.
"The mobile robotic factory brings certainty and precision, which is the most important thing," Jokic told Dezeen.
"Every panel we build [with the] robot – it's precise. That means when we break the ground and start building the foundation, we start building the panels. You can start building the rest of the parts of the building at the same time."
Additional elements, such as exterior cladding, flooring, and roofing, are constructed off-site and then added to the structure.
The team emphasised that solutions like these are necessary to rebuild after the devastating Los Angeles wildfires that destroyed tens of thousands of home earlier this year.
"After the wildfires burned thousands of acres, destroying homes, infrastructure, and natural habitats, this pioneering initiative will deploy the microfactory in Pacific Palisades, California, to build modular structures onsite, offering a glimpse into the future of affordable housing construction," said ABB.
Cosmic is working with private homeowners on the project, who can approach the company for services.
Jokic says they are currently working with 45 families.
Currently, most orders are for 2,000 to 4,000 square-foot (185 to 370 square metre) units
Jokic believes the system could also be deployed to aid in the housing crisis across the country.
"We need to end the housing crisis by allowing more people to have access to healthy and sustainable homes," said Jokic.
"We strongly believe that this is a missing piece for scaling industrialised construction across the nation to slow the housing crisis."
Cosmic plans to produce houses in the surrounding Pacific Palisades and Eaton neighbourhoods with multiple temporary sites before establishing a permanent factory.
According to the company, the current microfactory took approximately 30 days to set-up and they plan to use the site for the next two to three months.
Cosmic Buildings launched in 2022 in San Francisco with a solar-powered accessory dwelling unit. The company recently created an update to the design that features a sawtooth roof.
The photography is courtesy of ABB Robotics
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