Sika, the Swiss chemical giant, announced a joint investment with PERI Group, one of the world’s largest formwork and scaffolding makers. The two multinationals are investing in a Swiss robotic arm startup, called Mesh AG, inventor of the world’s first robot-assisted technology capable of creating reinforced concrete structures without using conventional formwork.
Mesh started out as a research project, spanning the course of 10 years, at ETH Zurich, one of the world’s most respected research institutions. PERI Group is a partner of, and investor in, COBOD, the largest additive construction (AC) firm in the world, while Sika introduced its first concrete printer about a year ago. Thus, while MESH Technology (as the company has branded its proprietary robotics system) is not itself an AC application, it nonetheless has clear potential to be combined with AC…
