Image: AUAR

MicroFactory

Containerised robotic cell in which ABB arms build timber-frame wall and floor panels

6
Deployments: 2
Companies that ran it

How it works on your site

The AUAR MicroFactory is a robotic timber-framing cell, shipped in standard containers, in which ABB robotic arms make wall and floor panel elements for timber-frame housing. The cell produces the panel elements only; people assemble them into walls and floors or erect the panels on site, and AUAR supplies both the operator and the design preparation. On the first Belgian building, a two-storey unit, one micro-factory produced the wall and floor elements in under eight hours of machine runtime, and three units running in parallel cut the same building to under three hours, according to AUAR figures reprinted in trade press. The MicroFactory is shipping; every observed installation runs indoors in a fixed building, with panels trucked to site.

Component Fabrication (Panels, Frames)

Image: AUAR

Field outcomes

1 of 5

Image: AUAR

Rival Holdings built the wall components for a Fort Wayne infill home in AUAR's MicroFactory.

Swinney Avenue infill home, Fort Wayne, USA

MicroFactory
Image: AUAR

Vandenbussche's AUAR MicroFactory in Aalter produced the timber interior elements for the Wintercircus renovation in Ghent.

Vandenbussche robotic microfactory, Aalter, Belgium

MicroFactoryVandenbussche
Image: AUAR

Vandenbussche produced the timber building elements for the Wintercircus renovation in Ghent with a robot cell in the MicroFactory it set up with AUAR at its Aalter site.

Wintercircus Gent (renovation), Belgium

MicroFactoryVandenbussche
Image: AUAR

A first test setup was built in Oostduinkerke under Vandenbussche's collaboration with AUAR: a garden house from timber units produced in advance by robots and partly assembled by hand, while a robotic MicroFactory was being set up at Vandenbussche's Aalter site.

Garden studio prototype, Oostduinkerke, Belgium

MicroFactoryVandenbussche
Image: AUAR

MicroFactory built a two-storey timber building in Belgium for Vandenbussche, AUAR's first completed project; Vandenbussche will use it as an office.

Two-storey housing unit / Vandenbussche office, Belgium

MicroFactoryVandenbussche

Who has run it

6 deployments · 2 companies · 2 countries

Will it work on your site

Sustained Throughput: Up to 180 homes a year per unitStated capacity ceiling, 2024 launch release
Control Interface: Production instructions issued by AUAR softwarestudio.auar.io login on the vendor site
BIM/CAD Requirements: Revit-connected Lego-packageDescribed for the early 2023 generation
Shipping Format: Standard shipping containersComponents pre-assembled (2024 statement)
Order To Shipping Lead Time: 12 weeks from order to shipping2024 figure
Max Panel Length: 6.7 m (22 ft)Stated maximum, 2026 trade coverage

As the maker states it.

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