ETH Zürich's autonomous excavator builds 65-meter dry-stone wall moving 900+ boulders
lukas_m_ziegler · x · 2026-09-14
Researchers from ETH Zürich's Robotic Systems Lab built a 65-meter-long, six-meter-high dry-stone wall using an autonomous excavator called "Heap."
- The system first scanned the site and stones, then placed each element via computer-aided design and control.
- It handled over 900 individual elements, some weighing more than 1,000 kg.
- The project ran from 2016 to 2025, dubbed the "Great Wall of Switzerland."
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