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Machine Empiricism

Research Open House 2022

Andres Roncal, BArch ’22
School of Architecture, Undergraduate Architecture
rendering that shows the human body as the constraint for the program to build.

Machine Empiricism aims to create a robotic and autonomous system in hard-to-access sites affected by natural disasters in order to assess site conditions and build temporary infrastructure with in-situ materials.

Diagram showing how the machine will function.
The system will consist of quadcopters, robotic arms, and a multitude of manufacturing techniques to achieve the interventions and bridge-like structures to allow for the passage of goods while the roads are being rebuilt.

Terraforming of the existing infrastructure to retain the mountains and coupling to design the site so the mudslides don’t happen as the site is being worked on with the use of ground anchors. The interventions will integrate the use of small hubs for the housing of basic necessities of the closes village around the affected area (medics housing, food storage, military/police presence).

rendering showing the potential stages of the case studies.
The case study will be looking into three locations in the Vraem routes in the state of Ayachuco, Peru. The interstate freeway is a single line shared by both incoming and outgoing traffic. The road is known to be one of the most dangerous in the world and one of the main causes for deaths are the mudslides.