ABB Robotics and UK tech start-up to deliver sustainable housing

According to ABB, AUAR’s approach to integrating robotic automation into the building process will tackle skills shortages, boost sustainability, and improve health and safety by deploying robots in a global network of local micro-factories.

These micro-factories will construct energy-efficient, affordable buildings from sheet timber.

In a statement, Craig McDonnell, managing director Business Line Industries, ABB Robotics, said: “The increasing capabilities of robots enabled by vision and AI, coupled with their inherent speed, flexibility and consistency, makes them the ideal solution for meeting the growing need for affordable, high quality, sustainable housing.”

Conventional buildings consist of thousands of different components shipped from around the world, making it almost impossible to automate construction. AUAR’s goal is to work with one type of material and one type of machine to simplify the supply chain.

The production process uses standard sheets of timber. A robot cuts the sheets into components and assembles them into units that are transported to site, enabling complete customised homes to be built in a matter of weeks.