Boom Arm

The Digital Construction Platform (DCP) is an in-progress research project consisting of a compound robotic arm system. The system is comprised of a 5-axis Altec hydraulic mobile boom arm attached to a 6-axis KUKA robotic arm. Akin to the biological model of human shoulder and hand this compound system utilizes the large boom arm for gross positioning and the small robotic arm for fine positioning and oscillation correction respectively. The platform is based on a fully mobile truck vehicle with a working reach diameter of over 80 feet. It can handle a 1,500 lb lift capacity and a 20 lb manipulation capacity. Potential applications include fabrication of non-standard architectural forms, integration of real-time on-site sensing data, improvements in construction efficiency, enhanced resolution, lower error rates, and increased safety.