System Architecture and Design Parameters for Extrusion-Based Autonomous Construction Systems (2022-10)¶

Autonomous construction systems (ACSs) have become a topic ofgreat interest in recent years in a variety ofareas, including design, materials science, architecture, space exploration, natural disaster recover, military operations, and others. Several different approaches have been proposed, the most promising (and so far most widely-applied) one being a large-scale system based on additive manufacturing (or 3-D printing) principles, where a concrete- or foam-based material is extruded in layers to produce a structure. This structure may be used as a basic shell around which a useful building, shelter, bridge, extraterrestrial habitat, or other infrastructure can be built or may be able to produce a full building in one operation. This article extracts information about the the major components, subsystems, and interfaces in these systems from a broad sampling of published literature and uses this information to propose a quasi-general system architecture and identify design opportunities. These models can be used to drive further research efforts on these systems, assist with more agile implementation, and improve the design oflarge-scale 3-D printing-based systems. This work is a first step in the development ofa reliable general system architecture similar to those used in the design oflarge-scale military and aerospace systems.