This method of concurrent 3D-printing, known as swarm printing, paves the way for a team of mobile robots to print even bigger structures in future. Developed by Assistant Professor Pham Quang Cuong and his team at NTU's Singapore Centre for 3D Printing, this new multi-robot technology was published in Automation in Construction, a top tier journal for civil engineering. The NTU scientist was also behind the Ikea Bot earlier this year where two robots assembled an Ikea chair in 8 min 55s. Using a specially formulated cement mix suitable for 3-D printing, this new development will allow for unique concrete designs currently not possible with conventional casting. Structures can also be produced on demand and in a much shorter period.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) appears to be suffering from an image crisis. Many of the most vocal commentators seem to believe it will ultimately cause more harm than good. While fear of new technology is nothing new, it doesn't help when thought leaders like Elon Musk join the prophets of doom. Sometimes even Elon Musk is wrong. I struggled to find consensus on an antonym for AI.

Robotics has come a long way in the past few years. Robots can now fetch items from specific spots in massive warehouses, swim through the ocean to study marine life, and lift 200 times their own weight. They can even perform synchronized dance routines. But the really big question is--can robots put together an Ikea chair? A team of engineers from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore decided to find out, detailing their work in a paper published last week in the journal Science Robotics.

Artificial intelligence has mastered something that humankind has failed at, repeatedly. An autonomous robot, designed by mechanical engineers in Singapore, can now assemble an IKEA chair from scratch without a manual in less than 21 minutes. Such a feat has been described as the "equivalent of the moon landings for robotics" because the skills required are straightforward but immensely complex. And it illustrates the tremendous distance that automated systems robots have traveled in a short period time. The study was published Wednesday in Science Robotics.

Although artificial intelligence systems may be able to beat humans at board games, we still have the upper hand when it comes to complicated manual tasks. But now, scientists have created robots that can do something even most humans struggle with: Assemble an IKEA chair. Putting together a chair requires a combination of complex movements that, in turn, depends on such skills as vision, limb coordination, and the ability to control force. Until now, that was too much to ask of even a sophisticated robot. But researchers have finally broken the dexterity barrier by combining commercially available hardware, including 3D cameras and force sensors, to build two chair-building bots.

Robots in Singapore have completed a task many humans dread - assembling flat-packed IKEA furniture. Sifting through pages of instructions and a jumble of screws and bolts to build the low-cost Swedish furniture may soon be a thing of the past given advances in technology, say researchers at the city-state's Nanyang Technological University.

Researchers in Singapore say they've built a robot that was able to put together a chair from IKEA in about 20 minutes.

Those who fear the rise of the machines, look away now. In a laboratory in Singapore two robots have mastered a task that roundly defeats humans every weekend: they have successfully assembled an Ikea chair. Engineers at Nanyang Technological University used a 3D camera and two industrial robot arms fitted with grippers and force sensors to take on the challenge of building an £18 "Stefan" chair from the furniture company. Working together, the robots completed the job in 20 minutes and 19 seconds after having the parts placed in front of them. More than half of the time was spent planning moves, with the execution taking nine minutes in total.

It is the cause of countless marital rows over mislaid allen keys and baffling instructions. But while trying to build Ikea furniture can ruin a weekend for many couples, the robots at least have got it sussed. Robots can build an Ikea chair in under nine minutes, mechanical engineers have discovered, after being programmed to fit the parts together perfectly. People, according to Ikea, take 10 to 15 minutes on average to build the same item of furniture. Robots can build an Ikea chair in under nine minutes, mechanical engineers have discovered, after being programmed to fit the parts together perfectly.

Scientists have demonstrated two robots using human-like dexterity to construct an Ikea chair.