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<p>Rural European forests hold vast stocks of undervalued small-diameter timber—chestnut coppice of 12–25&#xa0;cm—rejected by industry for geometric irregularity. Conventional milling wastes 58% of this material while reducing its structural capacity by half. The existing robotic fabrication research has demonstrated the technical feasibility of processing such timber, yet four dependencies persistently block transfer to continuous rural production: sequential scan-fabricate workflows, capital costs of commercially integrated cells, absence of documented economic validation, and the prohibitive programming cost of unit production on variable geometries—a barrier compounded by the absence of any commercial software solution for this task.</p><p>This paper presents an 18-month field validation of an integrated robotic manufacturing system that meets these four requirements. Rather than forcing material into standardised geometries, the system adapts fabrication to each log’s unique natural form through an adaptive parametric pipeline (Grasshopper + KRL, GPL licence). A standard chainsaw end-effector and a second-hand robot reduce the initial investment to €146,500. Four real construction projects—171 trees processed, success rates progressing from 78 to 90%—demonstrate economic viability at 14&#xa0;h of production per week. At €173/m<sup>2</sup>, the system achieves price parity with industrial timber kits while preserving raw material, mechanical strength, and local value. This work proposes a replicable model for the productive reindustrialisation of rural areas through territorial robotic manufacturing.</p>

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The tree dictates the shape: reversing the industrial paradigm in rural areas

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月11日

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  • Ludovic Mallegol,
  • Nicolas Rohart,
  • Nahoum Champroy

摘要

Rural European forests hold vast stocks of undervalued small-diameter timber—chestnut coppice of 12–25 cm—rejected by industry for geometric irregularity. Conventional milling wastes 58% of this material while reducing its structural capacity by half. The existing robotic fabrication research has demonstrated the technical feasibility of processing such timber, yet four dependencies persistently block transfer to continuous rural production: sequential scan-fabricate workflows, capital costs of commercially integrated cells, absence of documented economic validation, and the prohibitive programming cost of unit production on variable geometries—a barrier compounded by the absence of any commercial software solution for this task.

This paper presents an 18-month field validation of an integrated robotic manufacturing system that meets these four requirements. Rather than forcing material into standardised geometries, the system adapts fabrication to each log’s unique natural form through an adaptive parametric pipeline (Grasshopper + KRL, GPL licence). A standard chainsaw end-effector and a second-hand robot reduce the initial investment to €146,500. Four real construction projects—171 trees processed, success rates progressing from 78 to 90%—demonstrate economic viability at 14 h of production per week. At €173/m2, the system achieves price parity with industrial timber kits while preserving raw material, mechanical strength, and local value. This work proposes a replicable model for the productive reindustrialisation of rural areas through territorial robotic manufacturing.