Dr. Edvard Bruun joined the faculty of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology in August 2024. He completed his Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University in 2024. Prior to his doctoral studies, Dr. Bruun practiced as a structural engineer at Arup and is a licensed professional engineer (P.Eng.) in Canada, where he also completed his Bachelor of Applied Science and Master of Applied Science degrees at the University of Toronto. His professional and academic work spans structural engineering, digital fabrication, and large-scale robotic automation, with a particular emphasis on integrating advanced computational methods into construction and fabrication workflows.
Dr. Bruun’s research investigates how large-scale robotic automation can transform the design, assembly, and disassembly of building and infrastructure systems. His work develops computational and optimization methods for designing geometrically complex yet materially efficient structural components that necessitate robotic fabrication rather than traditional manual approaches.
A central platform in Dr. Bruun’s research is the Cooperative Multi-Robot Gantry (CMRG) at Georgia Tech—a unique dual-arm, large-workspace robotic fabrication facility purpose-built for cooperative manipulation, precision assembly, and human–robot collaboration at architectural and structural scales. By leveraging the spatial precision, reach, and multifunctionality of coordinated industrial robots, Dr. Bruun’s research enables the exploration of new data-driven construction processes in which multiple robots handle components, provide temporary support conditions, and execute complex assembly or disassembly tasks with minimal intervention.
Ultimately, his work aims to create fabrication-informed structural design methodologies, bridging structural engineering, computational design, and robotic automation to enable safer, more sustainable, and more productive construction workflows.
- PhD Princeton University 2024
- MA Princeton University 2021
- MASc University of Toronto 2017
- BASc University of Toronto 2015
Dr. Bruun teaches across both foundational and advanced areas within the College of Engineering the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering. At the undergraduate level, he is committed to building strong fundamentals through core courses such as Statics (COE2001). At the graduate and advanced undergraduate levels, his teaching focuses on computational structural design, matrix structural analysis, parametric modeling, digital fabrication, and the integration of design computation with robotic workflows.
His courses aim to equip students with the analytical, computational, and interdisciplinary design skills needed to collaborate more effectively with architects, roboticists, and engineers. By combining structural analysis with emerging digital and fabrication technologies, Dr. Bruun prepares students to design and build complex structural systems and to participate in the rapidly evolving landscape of automated and data-driven construction.
- 2023 Charlotte Elizabeth Procter Honorific Fellowship
- 2023 O.H. Ammann Research Fellowship in Structural Engineering
- 2021 Architect Magazine R+D Award
- 2020 Princeton Catalysis Initiative Award
- 2019 Alexander Graham Bell Graduate Scholarship (NSERC)
- Bruun, Edvard P. G., Stefana Parascho, and Sigrid Adriaenssens. 2024. “Cooperative Robotic Fabrication for a Circular Economy.” In A Circular Built Environment in the Digital Age, edited by Catherine De Wolf, Sultan Çetin, and Nancy Bocken, 129–49. Circular Economy and Sustainability. Springer Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39675-5_8
- Bruun, Edvard P. G., Erin Besler, Sigrid Adriaenssens, and Stefana Parascho. 2024. “Scaffold-Free Cooperative Robotic Disassembly and Reuse of a Timber Structure in the ZeroWaste Project.” Construction Robotics 8 (2): 39. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41693-024-00137-7
- Bruun, Edvard P. G., Robin Oval, Wesam Al Asali, Orsolya Gaspar, Vittorio Paris, and Sigrid Adriaenssens. 2024. “Automating Historical Centering-Minimizing Masonry Vaulting Strategies: Applications to Cooperative Robotic Construction.” Developments in the Built Environment 20 (September):100516. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dibe.2024.100516
- Oval, Robin, Rafael Pastrana, Edvard P. G. Bruun, Vittorio Paris, Salvador Gomis Aviño, Sigrid Adriaenssens, and Wesam Al Asali. 2024. “An Integrated Digital Design and Construction Approach for Falsework-Minimal Masonry Vaults.” Structures 63 (May):106428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.istruc.2024.106428
- Bruun, Edvard P. G., and Evan C. Bentz. 2022. “A Mechanics-Based Finite Element for the Analysis of Shear-Critical Slender Reinforced Beams and Columns.” Journal of Structural Engineering 148 (9): 16. https://doi.org/10.1061/(ASCE)ST.1943-541X.0003424
- Bruun, Edvard P. G., Sigrid Adriaenssens, and Stefana Parascho. 2022. “Structural Rigidity Theory Applied to the Scaffold-Free (Dis)Assembly of Space Frames Using Cooperative Robotics.” Automation in Construction 141 (June):104405. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2022.104405
- Bruun, Edvard P. G., Rafael Pastrana, Vittorio Paris, Alessandro Beghini, Attilio Pizzigoni, Stefana Parascho, and Sigrid Adriaenssens. 2021. “Three Cooperative Robotic Fabrication Methods for the Scaffold-Free Construction of a Masonry Arch.” Automation in Construction 129 (September):103803. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2021.103803
- Parascho, Stefana, Isla Xi Han, Samantha Walker, Alessandro Beghini, Edvard P. G. Bruun, and Sigrid Adriaenssens. 2020. “Robotic Vault: A Cooperative Robotic Assembly Method for Brick Vault Construction.” Construction Robotics 4 (3): 117–26. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41693-020-00041-w.
- Bruun, Edvard P. G., Ian Ting, Sigrid Adriaenssens, and Stefana Parascho. 2020. “Human–Robot Collaboration: A Fabrication Framework for the Sequential Design and Construction of Unplanned Spatial Structures.” Digital Creativity 31 (4): 320–36. https://doi.org/10.1080/14626268.2020.1845214.
- Bruun, Edvard P. G., and Alban Duka. 2018. “Artificial Intelligence, Jobs and the Future of Work: Racing with the Machines.” Basic Income Studies 13 (2): 15. https://doi.org/10.1515/bis-2018-0018.