Ever thought about drones capable of weaving cord into rope bridges?
Probably not but these drones are exactly what scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland, have invented.
New Scientist’s Hal Hodson writes:
Each quadcopter drone is equipped with a spool of strong plastic cable that runs out behind it as it flies. One end of the cable can be secured by making several turns around a pole.
Currently, the drones can only build tensile structures, but because the devices can be directed autonomously from the ground and are already capable of tying complicated knots, researchers are excited about their potential in the construction industry.
Ammar Mirjan, who works on the architectural side of the project, says, “something possible would be a structure like a bridge or a connection between existing buildings.”
Building tensile structures with drones:
