Future challenges and need for research in timber engineering

Automation is increasingly present in the construction industry, whether at the design, manufacturing or assembly stage. Thanks to new technologies, such as robotics, new ways of designing structural elements can be imagined and implemented. Complex methods and sequences of assembly can be set up quickly as well. Numerous studies have been carried out in this direction at the laboratory for timber constructions IBOIS (EPFL) especially on wood-wood connections called Integral Mechanical Attachments (IMA). IMA for structural timber elements offer an alternative to structural bonding. Fabrication process and geometries are more flexible and can be used to design others timber construction products which is a great advantage for medium size timber companies. Moreover, there is no need of a drastic quality control compared to bonding process