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Geometrically complex masonry structures (e.g., arches, domes, vaults) aretraditionally built with expensive scaffolding or falsework to providestability during construction. The process of building such structures canpotentially be improved through the use of multiple robots working together ina cooperative assembly framework. Here a robot is envisioned as both aplacement and external support agent during fabrication - the unfinishedstructure is supported in such a way that scaffolding is not required. The goalof this paper is to present and validate the efficacy of three cooperativefabrication approaches using two or three robots, for the scaffold-freeconstruction of a stable masonry arch from which a medium-span vault is built.A simplified numerical method to represent a masonry structure is firstpresented and validated to analyse systems composed of discrete volumetricelements. This method is then used to evaluate the effect of the threecooperative robotic fabrication strategies on the stability performance of thecentral arch. The sequential method and cantilever method, which utilize tworobotic arms, are shown to be viable methods, but have challenges related toscalability and robustness. By adding a third robotic agent, it becomespossible to determine a structurally optimal fabrication sequence through amulti-objective optimization process. The optimized three robot method is shownto significantly improve the structural behavior over all fabrication steps.The modeling approaches presented in this paper are broadly formulated andwidely applicable for the analysis of cooperative robotic fabrication sequencesfor the construction of discrete element structures across scales andmaterials.

Three Cooperative Robotic Fabrication Methods for the Scaffold-Free Construction of a Masonry Arch