Swiss start-up develops tiling robot with the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore

The system was unveiled at a live demonstration at the National Research Foundation’s Campus for Research Excellence And Technological Enterprise (CREATE) in Singapore, attended by construction firms, property developers and government agencies. The prototype is able to lay tiles two to three times faster than a human worker while maintaining high precision and consistent quality. The system was developed by researchers at the Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) with industry partner ROB Technologies.

“With a robotic tiling machine, it is possible to achieve a four-fold increase in tiling productivity, as robots can work 24/7,” said Professor Fabio Gramazio, who leads the FCL research module Architecture and Digital Fabrication. Having the repetitive, strenuous tiling work done by robots can reduce the demand for manual labour by as much as 75%, and also lower the risk of injuries and other job-related health problems. The system has built-in safety features and is completely safe to work alongside human workers in a construction site.

“Improvements in construction productivity brought about by robotic tiling can create significant cost savings,” said Mr Tobias Bonwetsch, Director of ROB Technologies. One robot can cumulate labour savings of up to S$ 2.5 million over five years.

“We want to work with contractors and property developers on small tiling projects to prove the value of our robotic tiling machine and incorporate user feedback on features that can be enhanced,” added Mr Bonwetsch. “By 2020 we see that 75% of tiles will not be laid manually, but by our robot. In addition to new construction projects, our robotic tiling machine can also be applied in renovation projects.”

R-O-B Technologies was established in 2010 as an official Spin-off of ETH Zurich. The company builds upon the research work developed at the chair of Gramazio & Kohler for Architecture and Digital Fabrication at the ETHZ Zurich. Since 2005 the group investigates novel concepts and methods on applying robotic processes within an architectural context and making the design potential of the machine available to the architect.

The Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) is a transdisciplinary research programme focused on sustainable urbanisation on different scales in a global perspective, laying the foundation for a new form of urban studies programme. FCL is co-initiated by the ETH departments of Architecture (DArch) and Civil Engineering (DBaug). It is the first research programme of the Singapore-ETH Centre for Global Environmental Sustainability (SEC). It is home to a community of over 100 PhD, postdoctoral and Professorial researchers working on diverse themes related to future cities and environmental sustainability.