Foster + Partners wins €4 million EU grant for robots that build timber structures top-down

Foster + Partners has won a €4 million, three-year grant from the European Innovation Council's Pathfinder programme for SWIFT-Build — Swarm-based Inverted Fabrication for Timber Buildings. Robots assemble the roof on the ground, then lift it to build lower levels beneath. Drones monitor overhead. Seven European universities join the London firm. A full-scale pavilion demonstration is planned.