B4 - Term Project Description

Thomas Sisson and I will be working together on the term project “Automated, Lightweight Construction on Mars”. Our project explores the idea of autonomous building construction in an isolated environment roughly 140 million miles from Earth. The main goal of this project is to research a construction method that can be deployed prior to astronauts reaching the planet. The primary benefit to autonomous construction in this situation is that we can send up a construction rocket to begin construction of a colony before humans get there. This would save on construction time and could even prevent loss of life in the event that the construction rocket is damaged en route to the location.

My group and I chose to do this project since it directly relates to our senior design project which is to build a self-sustaining colony on Mars. The idea of living on Mars is becoming more and more probable, and the use of automated construction methods are most likely going to become a requirement since traditional construction methods are challenging in a foreign environment. While the futuristic skyscrapers that have been the backdrop of many sci-fi films are still lightyears away, traditional construction methods are both time and money intensive. The use of automated construction methods would be cost and time efficient, as well as prevent any loss of human life. These methods aren’t just for building in space either, automated construction could be implemented now and would impact the way construction is completed on Earth.

This project relates to intelligent buildings because it takes the topics we have been discussing in class, such as robotics and artificial intelligence, and directly relates it to designing and constructing buildings. Automated construction is most likely going to be the next step in the engineering and construction industry and is already prominent in some countries.

There a couple problems that come with this project, with the primary being location. While we have a general map of Mars from what was gathered from rovers and satellites, it doesn’t have any of the technologies, such as GPS tracking, which is what we use for robots on Earth. Another challenge we face is power, all the methods we have researched for this project will require a way to recharge since batteries don’t last forever and solar power is 40% of that on Earth. A way of working around this by creating a colony that uses lighter materials which will reduce the power requirements. The weaker gravity on Mars also poses a challenge for drone construction, the major issue is not knowing how much lift will be generated on Mars. This does not eliminate drones all together, since they could still be used for ensuring proper alignment of the structure.

Comments:
Mark O,
I really like that your team is deciding to follow the design process used in the industry since it's what you'll probably end up doing eventually! I think this is a great way to experiment and play around with the other things Revit can do aside from the architectural and structural elements. I've always wanted to do this myself, since we don't get a lot of classes that allow us to explore the MEP side of Revit. I would love to read the rest of your experience!

Kerry M,
I remember watching that movie! It was actually one of the movies that sparked my interest in buildings and the idea of a "smart" house. I like how you addressed the idea that only new construction can be "smart", since most people don't have the money to move into a new place. Intelligent appliances would be the easiest way for an existing home to turn into a smart home.

Jordan S,
I like that you are incorporating one of your interests with this term project. I think the idea of having robots in an archival space such as a library is very interesting and is most likely another step in the way of intelligent buildings. I'm assuming that these robots will be using some type of code to locate the book required, but what would happen if the book is misplaced? I'm sure this issue would come up in your research, I look forward to reading more about it!

Thomas Sisson - Blog Post 4

Our Project:        

          I am working on a project with Allison Abad. We are exploring the use of automated building technologies in a truly automated atmosphere – about 140 million miles from civilization. Our hope is to have a structural and foundation system that is deployable without interaction from astronauts. This would allow us to stage construction in an earlier mission, and send the astronauts separately. If this happens, then the time for construction left for the astronauts is greatly impacted, since excavation and foundation take up the majority of our construction timeline. The deployable structural framing would be an added bonus, since that would reduce the need for supplies that the astronauts would need before moving in to the building itself and begin life support/food production.

          This project was chosen because it is directly related to our senior design project. In addition to that, Martian civilization is rapidly becoming feasible, and automated construction solutions could become a necessary norm for construction on a foreign planet where traditional construction would be difficult. It may be a long time before high rise structures on mars become remotely feasible, but such construction would require all workers to be fully suited and protected, and the equipment costs would be astronomical. The implementation of automated technology solutions would reduce costs, and end up being much safer and faster in an unhospitable environment. This can also impact earthen construction in environments that are difficult for human construction workers, such as nuclear power plants that need to be capped or perhaps subterranean/submerged construction should such projects emerge in the future. Even average construction could be impacted with these technologies.

          This is related to intelligent buildings, at least by mine and my groups definition, as it is designing and constructing buildings using the latest technologies and automation. Artificial intelligence driven construction is one major part of intelligent buildings that I believe will be the next step after self-regulation, which is already emerging in some buildings today. Although self-regulation is an important part of intelligent building design, and is implemented in our Martian Colony, it is not highlighted in this project as it broadens the scope.  

          There are a couple major challenges to our project, with the primary being location. Mars is not only desolate and hostile to human life, but it is completely devoid of some of the basic technologies we use for robotics on earth. The biggest technology we lack on Mars is the lack of a Global Positioning System (GPS). I believe we can work around this using relative positioning to the landing crafts, and waypoint beacons that can be used to triangulate positioning for our autonomous vehicles. We do not need to worry about absolute position with mars, all we need to worry about is that piles are spaced evenly and dimensions are correct. Another major challenge is powering all of our equipment, as batteries will not last forever and incident sunlight is about 40% of that on earth. We are working around this by using a building system comprised entirely of lightweight materials, which in conjunction with the lower gravity on mars will reduce power requirements. This may allow us to use batteries, supplemented by either fuel cells or perhaps quickly deployable solar arrays. The challenge is air density, which limits our use of conventional flying drones as lift will be much harder to generate. Because of this we are only using drones as a potential solution to the issue of positioning and direction of our construction equipment and hazard terrain detection.

Comments:

Zac A:
I really enjoy your project scope, since it was something I strongly considered doing as well. We really do not get enough Revit practice as students and for the most part we must push boundaries in our own time and then fit these projects to match what our classes are asking for. Your building looks interesting, and the use of curved features is creative for the amphitheater. Your implementation of complete mechanical, electrical, and plumbing plans is going to be pretty important as a self learning tool, as well as something that I agree BIM is becoming more important for. My question is are you guys also going to be experimenting with families, or is that simply too much on top of your current work load. Good luck with the building!

Kerry M:
I vaguely remember that movie. Mostly, I just recall the nightmares it used to give me, but also a major interest in automation. I don't think capital is going to be a major issue simply because of how small and affordable computers are becoming. Having a computer powerful enough to automate the appliances in a house during the production of that movie may have seemed crazy, but now the automation can be driven through cloud computing or even simply the appliances talking to each other.

I also like how you highlighted the clash between good information and biased information when dealing with the many appliance manufacturers and am interested in how you are going to overcome different manufacturers trying to monopolize on the technology, or at least make it harder for other brands to interface.

Jordan S:
I really like your take on what an intelligent building is capable of. I have forgotten that not everything is digital, and some things will be impossible to simply store in a database. Such a space seems like it would be incredibly important for museums or libraries that are storing older documents or items of interest, where the librarian can simply select the item they want on the computer and have it delivered to them safely and without damage. This could also allow warehouse designs that are much more compact and do not need to account for much human traffic. I am very interested to see what kind of technology you implement. I have a brother who is working on the large scale applications that you mentioned, where they use drones to automatically tag and search for items in a warehouse. For the smaller applications I would like to see what kind of technologies you come up with.