[Greenbuilding] Building by Intelligent Rearrangement - an idea

[Bob Irving]

FYI!
You might like to follow up this

     *   11 August 2006
     * NewScientist.com news service


It's a 3D jigsaw puzzle for archaeologists. Shattered sculptures and  
artefacts can now be pieced together precisely without the risk of  
damaging them.

The technique, which uses a laser scanner and advanced reassembly  
software, will be used to digitally rebuild ancient objects that are  
too heavy, fragile or complex to piece together by hand.

Existing software can only match up to 10 fragments, each of which  
must have a flat edge - not particularly useful for artefacts that  
have been buried for hundreds of years. The new system, created by  
Natasha Gelfand of Stanford University in California, Qi-Xing Huang  
of Tsinghua University in Beijing, China, and researchers at the  
Vienna University of Technology in Austria, can cope with objects  
that have been broken into up to 30 pieces, including fragments with  
complex irregular edges.

The team first creates a model of each fragment using a 3D laser  
scanner. The software then compares the fragments and produces a list  
of surfaces that could potentially lock together, ruling out pairings  
that result in a lot of empty space. It then tries different  
combinations of matching surfaces until it finds a solution that  
brings all the pieces together and results in the least empty space.

To test the software, the team smashed two clay objects, a gargoyle  
(right) and a sculpture of a woman's head, then scanned the pieces.  
The software successfully rematched them all, allowing the team to  
reconstruct the sculptures.
 From issue 2564 of New Scientist magazine, 11 August 2006, page 21

On 18 Sep 2006, at 01:25, malcolm lambert wrote:

> Thanks everyone for your ideas, comments, links and contacts. I've  
> got some work ahead of me :)
>
>   My research so far has not found anyone who has already tried and  
> failed to develop a method for building with rock rubble using a  
> computer so I'm going to give it a go. My next steps (running in  
> parallel) will be to see if I can get a computer program to  
> demonstrate the fitting of several irregular polyhedra, trying to  
> get some funding for the research and development, doing some  
> market research and getting my head around the business side of  
> things.
>
>   If all goes well I might have a computer program to demonstrate  
> the software side of the method in a year.
>
>   Thanks again.
>
>   Malcolm Lambert
>
>
>
> malcolm lambert <malberthobart at yahoo.com.au> wrote:
>   Hello, I am new to the Greenbuilding list.
>
> I am developing a method that has the potential to increase the use  
> of natural, unprocessed stone as a building material, using lots of  
> computing power rather than lots of energy. It's a method for  
> building walls from irregularly-shaped stones where a computer  
> acquires the 3D shape of several stones using a 3d scanner or  
> digital camera then the computer starts fitting the stones to each  
> other and to the wall shape, in the virtual world. The computer  
> outputs instructions to the builder as to the position and  
> orientation of the stones to be placed in the wall.
>
> I am developing the method as a patentable invention, the details  
> of which can be seen at www.rocksolver.com . I don't yet have the  
> computer program to demonstrate the method but I'm optimistic about  
> it being possible. Because of the ubiquitous nature of stone and  
> the low embodied energy of unprocessed stone I think it would be a  
> good idea to use it more in building. What do you think?
>
> Any ideas or comments would be appreciated. Thanks.
>
> Malcolm Lambert
>
>
> ---------------------------------
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