Democratizing 3D Printing On-Site with Ernest the Robot in Off-Site Mode

LUCAS BERTRAND: Hello, everyone. Welcome to our session, entitled Democratizing 3D Printing On-Site with Ernest the Robot in Off-Site Mode. My name is Lucas Bertrand. I'm in charge of the BIM division of Spie Batignolles Group, a [INAUDIBLE] general contractor operating in France and around the world.

I'm very happy to be sharing with you the next half hour on a subject I'm passionate about. First of all, a few words about me. I joined Spie batignolles after many years in charge of the BIM synthesis and BIM management on large scale projects, such as Santiago Airport in Chile, Triumph Tower in Paris by architects Herzog de Meuron and the Luma Foundation for Photography in Arles designed by architect Frank Gehry.

My role at Spie batignolles as head of BIM is to define the rule and practices for all the group's disciplines as well as to manage our community of BIM experts and our partnerships, such as the one with Autodesk. As part of these partnerships, we carry out technological innovation works.

That's why I'm here with you today highlights to share with you the technological evolution we have developed jointly with Autodesk, and in particular, to facilitate communication between the digital model and 3D printing in your own plant service.

To better explain the work we have undertaken, I'd like to suggest the following. First of all, how this idea came about, then your objectives and expectations in term of process and technology. This allows us to focus on the actual use of this technology-- in particular, for the 3D printing of boxes for the passage of technical [INAUDIBLE].

Finally, a few examples of applications. OK, let's share. Let's talk about us-- Spie batignolles. Today, we are the first production company in France to have built a 3D printing head for concrete and installed it in Paris for worksites.

Having a concrete 3D printing machine is already a very good thing, but it's not enough to answer our fundamental question, which is, how can we use this technology to make your product replicable for us? Efficiency means being able to product an element in a way that can be replicated on or off-site.

On-site, the first challenge-- this technology was intended for architectural and design projects. The use was for one-off pieces rather than for industrial production. The initial idea was to think about how I could work on subject with high replication rates. We scaned the ecosystem on new construction sites, looking for simple uses for our products.

We identified subjects like reservation boxes or beam nodes, for example. These elements are printable and can be replicated many times on a site. We launched test and reservation boxes, as well as an infrastructure structural molds. As a result of this test, we have identified improvements in the quality of our products, [INAUDIBLE], times, and the difficulty of executing our elements, and finally, the absence of waste by reducing the use of wood and formworks on construction sites.

How do you remake it? Look at the pictures. The picture shows one of our robots. One is in Paris, one in Lyon. And we'll soon have a third. We bought the robot from [? X3, ?] a French startup. This robot enables us to create both predictable and single-use parts on an industrial scale.

We standardize the methodology and processes, but the end result can be customized. Why reservation boxes? It's very simple. The original version that everyone knows in the wooden box on the left-- when you extract the number of boxes of a construction operation, you end up with lots and lots of different sides. It's too much.

It's not easy to manage. And there we come to your concept. In fact, the idea is to use the model to optimize on standardized dimensions, then extract the data, transmit to the robots, and print the boxes, then send them to the jobsite for installation without having to remove them afterwards. That sounds easy.

OK. Next, let's talk about the printing principle. As I said before, there are a huge number of reservation boxes on your building sites. We have an input, which, for the most part, is a mockup. From this model, we extract the geometry of the element to be printed in specific software, such as Revit or Rhino.

Then we run the Dynamo script to optimize the part and define the prime paths for the print head. In the third step, we run another script to establish the product path around the robots. In the first step, we check and validate the paths on the stock of material. In the fifth step, we print the parts.

Yeah. And finally, we send the printed parts to the construction site. The future goal is to integrate the site model directly into the 3D printing robots. This will open up a whole new field of printing possibilities in the future.

Since we're talking about that-- models and processes-- we are bound to talk about BIM. The process of printing reservation boxes integrates into our BIM process. And to do that, we have involved all your partners, including, of course, [INAUDIBLE]. Why do we do it? The aim is to standardize this approach.

And for that, we need to get everyone involved to understand and adopt this method. That's where the idea come from to provide them with an adapted kit. The kits explain the approach and provide the right tools. In other words, the [INAUDIBLE] to be used on the right child parameters.

We therefore provide the site with absolutely all the keys to the success, including to contract everyone on board. Our achievement framework-- over the next few slides. We'll look at just a few examples from a long list of possible uses. Here left on the center, you can see acroteria.

On the right, rectangular reservation boxes with a grid for the safe integration into a slab, and below, circular reservation boxes for integration into the world. This slide shows example of street furniture, such as flower boxes on the left and benches in the center and on the right. As you can see, you can have a lot of fun with shapes.

An architect and urban planner can have lots of fun with shapes when it comes to proposing street furniture because with this type of elements, we don't have to deal with structural issues. So we are free. Some architects know that we have shown them some examples.

They're asking for this type of solution because they have a virtual finish world, and even finish a texture which they are present. For this slide, some use cases. On the left, you see the column for the training pool project for the 2024 Olympic games in France. What's so special about them? They're complex shapes, of course.

And they're the icing on the cake. Before, the columns were straight lines, but only the architects saw the potential of the prints. He revised his design with this organic form. He unleashed his creativity thanks to the possibility offered by industrialization and digital technology, but that's not all.

Back in the past, using traditional wood formwork would have required a cubic meter of wood per column. In other words, a tree would have had to be felled for each column. This new method helps us to reduce our carbon footprint, which I'm sure is a requirement for all of our companies today.

And note-- on the right, a retaining wall. The machine has helped to simplify its constructions, its curve, making it easier to build. Another advantage of these tools is their compatibility with other, less carbon-intensive printing materials, such as clay. We are currently studying the subject, but maybe we will talk about it at the next Autodesk University.

Now you have seen your background, understand our challenges, and seen firsthand how we combine 3D printing and technology. If there were just one thing to sum up our approach, it would be this.

Digital mockup is much more than just an input to our worksites. It helps us achieve our strategic objectives of industrialized constructions. Indeed, it helps us by automating your processes and giving us the freedom to design architectural works while helping us meet our CSR targets. I will end on these lines. And thank you for listening.