TROY, N.Y. â The stress that COVID-19 has placed on medical facilities across the country highlights the need for safe, convenient, and functional surge capacity that can be used for hospital care or quarantine during a public health crisis. A new research effort led by a team at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute aims to improve manufacturing of rapidly deployed structures in order to address future shortages of medical care and quarantine facilities, as well as housing needs following a disaster. This project will rely on the development of a group of self-aware, human-directed robots to assist in manufacturing, and is being funded by the Department of Defense through the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute.