Robotic Fabrication in Architecture, Art and Design 2014

This work investigates, defines, and expands on the use of robotic arms in digital fabrication, design, and art through methods including 3D printing, milling, sculpting, functionally graded fabrication, construction-scale additive manufacturing, jammable granular system design, light painting, and volumetric sensing. While most current applications of robotics in manufacturing rely on repetitive automation and assembly tasks, the flexibility, dexterity, and precision of industrial robotic arms provide for design opportunities of multi-functionary roles. Through exploration and demonstration, a multipurpose fabrication platform was developed using a KUKA KR5 sixx R850 robotic arm. The platform is capable of conventional manufacturing techniques spanning the three traditional fabrication categories: additive, subtractive, and formative. Case studies and digital design fabrication protocols were developed as part of the robotic platform to demonstrate these three types of fabrication including 3D printing, multi-axis milling, and clay sculpting, respectively. Compound processes, such as combining 3D printing and milling, were developed that offer product-, and process-based improvements over standalone techniques. The benefits and drawbacks of a multi-fabrication platform are discussed, including cost, physical footprint, resolution, and flexibility.

The contribution proposes the experimental results of research on robotics manufacturing issues for the realization of informed architectural organisms on a 1:1 scale. The pavilions Fusta Robotics and Digital Urban Orchard and the technological system In.Flux represent the results of tests in which material, environmental and structural performance inform the computational process and the consequent materialization. The two pavilions, both wooden, constitute the physical implementation of different functional programs realised through a collaboration with industrial partners. Fusta Robotics is the result of a collaboration between industry and universities for the tectonic experimentation derived from the use of local non-engineered material. Digital Urban Orchard is the formal expression of a complex functional program arising from the relationship amongst form (shape), function and context for a new concept of socialization space and food production within the agenda at the self-sufficiency in Barcelona. Finally, through the In.Flux prototype, we investigated the relationship among formal generation, structural analysis and robotic manufacturing for the realization of concrete free-form structures. The analysis of the prototypes opens the debate on the role of IT in the post-digital era when the design process manifest through the control and management of the flow of information affecting the digital computation and fabrication and the material behaviour. The resulting theoretical assumption considers the architectural form as the result of a diagram of forces where the achievement of the performance is the driving parameter for the formal geometric exploration. The continuous variation resulting therefrom is informed by performance parameters that define a new aesthetic which represents together the manifestation of objectively measurable performance parameters and the power of the tool through which the form is generated.

2012

In situ Fabricator (construction robot) is fabricating a doubly curved mesh structure during a fabrication test on the Empa NEST building in Duebendorf, Switzerland. Credit: Photo: NCCR Digital Fabrication and ETH Zurich Many building processes still involve substandard working conditions and are not compellingly sustainable. Current research on the integration of digital technologies within construction processes promises substantial contributions to sustainability and productivity, while at the same time enabling completely new forms of architectural expression. The multidisciplinary nature of integrating digital processes remains a key challenge to establishing a digital building culture. In order to fully exploit the potential of digital fabrication, an institutional and funding environment that enables strong interdisciplinary research is required. Traditionally separated disciplines such as: architecture, structural design, computer science, materials science, control systems engineering, and robotics now need to form strong research connections.

ACADIA proceedings

This paper illustrates a fabrication methodology through which the inherent form of large non-linear timber components was exploited in the Wood Chip Barn project by the students of Design + Make at the Architectural Association's Hooke Park campus. Twenty distinct Y-shaped forks are employed with minimal machining in the construction of a structural truss for the building. Through this workflow, low-value branched sections of trees are transformed into complex and valuable building components using non-standard technologies. Computational techniques, including parametric algorithms and robotic fabrication methods, were used for execution of the project. The paper addresses the various challenges encountered while processing irregular material, as well as limitations of the robotic tools. Custom algorithms, codes, and post-processors were developed and integrated with existing software packages to compensate for drawbacks of industrial and parametric platforms. The project demonstrates and proves a new methodology for working with complex, large geometries which still results in a low cost, time-and quality-efficient process. 1 Wood Chip Barn's Truss. GENERATIVE ROBOTICS 2, 3, and 4 Robotic Milling.

IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine, 2015

Robots are complex systems, and their design requires detailed knowledge of diverse fields including mechanics, electronics, software, and control theory. Thus, our ability to rapidly create robotic systems requires a synergy between these diverse disciplines. In the near future, new paradigms and tools will be needed for on-demand design generation; new fabrication methods will be needed to realize custom electromechanical devices; and new algorithms and programming languages will be necessary to define, evaluate, and optimize behavioral specifications and designs. In this work we assess the main challenges, problems, vision, and future steps on the topic of co-design and rapid fabrication of robotic systems.

Industrial Robot: An International Journal, 2011

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of shaped metal deposition (SMD). SMD is an additive manufacturing process which uses a robotic cell to create fully dense, near-net shape, metallic parts directly from computer-aided design files. Design/methodology/approach -Research into optimising the SMD process was carried out as part of the 6th Framework RAPOLAC project. This included developing both robotic and weld models, creating a weld controller, and using a design of experiments approach to optimise parameters based on the resultant component microstructure and material properties. Extensive metallurgical analysis and mechanical testing was carried out.

2nd INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING, 2017

The development of computational design and manufacturing (CAD/CAM) tools and technologies in the 21 st century have encouraged architects, engineers and all related stakeholders to integrate the new computational tools and high level automation technologies to solve the problems in design and construction. Today, cutting edge technologies and innovative materials enable architects to follow a new process-designing the design process-to optimize the conventional way of "design and fabrication". Similarly computational design and manufacturing technologies force architects to think about new construction methods. Especially with the integration of 3d printing technologies and robotics in to the fabrication process-like robotic drones, bricklaying robots, welding robots, exoskeletons, forklift robots, humanoids etc.-traditional construction materials should have been reconsidered in terms of assemblage and related connection details. In this context, various design fabrication methods and automated construction techniques have been investigated and hybrid tectonics have emerged. Tectonics for concrete, steel, wood, stone and brickwork are not the ones we used to build in the recent past. In this regard, this paper discusses and exemplifies computational manufacturing techniques and hybrid tectonics with an emphasis on robotics used in architecture after setting the theoretical background. Selected case studies clearly shows that although their infant years in architecture, robotics can be used in construction sector widely in the near future.

T his paper examines the creation of a new typology of architectural craft derived from the residual elements found through the misuse of robot manufacturing tools. T he discussion of the T _Series project, and the T _T hree table specifically, created by WIT O* will demonstrate that through the utilization and exaggeration of mechanical imperfections, a new typology of architectural design aesthetic can be created.

2014

Robotically Driven Construction of Buildings (RDCB) is an exploration into design to production solutions for robotically driven construction of buildings initiated by the faculties of Civil Engineering and Architecture, TU Delft and Architecture, TU Eindhoven and implemented 2014 within the 3TU Lighthouse framework. The aim of was to involve the disciplines of architecture, robotics, materials science, and structural design in order to integrate knowledge from the individual disciplines and develop new numerically controlled manufacturing techniques and building-design optimisation methods for adding creative value to buildings in a cost-effective and sustainable way. RDCB builds up on expertise developed at Hyperbody with respect to applications of robotics in architecture and this paper presents the contribution of the Robotic Building team from Hyperbody, Faculty of Architecture, TU Delft to the RDCB project. The contribution is in line with Europe’s aim to improve material and ...