Thin carbon fibres wind over a 3D-printed metal frame to form this hybrid bridge, made by university students in Shanghai using two emerging robotic fabrication techniques.
Students participating in the DigitalFUTURES International 2019 summer workshop at Tongji University worked with local research studio Fab-Union to design the bridge, which can hold more than 20 people.
The Robot Fabricated Hybrid Bridge is an exploration of two relatively recent construction methods ? large-scale metal 3D printing, such as that used for MX3D's world-first bridge, and filament winding, as seen in the University of Stuttgart's beetle-wing-inspired Elytra pavilion.

Both techniques save money, material and energy compared to traditional building methods such as subtractive manufacturing or cast pouring, and the students wanted to see how they could work in synergy. Their hybrid method involves no formwork or moulds, and they believe it offers a great degree of design freedom.

They used 3D-printing to construct the skeletal steel-base of the bridge, and winding of carbon and glass fibres to produce the web-like steps and handrails.
They used topology optimisation software to strip away all unnecessary material from the design, which ended up requiring 263 kilograms of steel for the 11.4-metre-long bridge. At its thinnest points, the steel frame is 20 centimetres thick.

The construction phase took 20 days and a total of four robots ? two per fabrication method.
The structure was preassemb...