Robotic Fabrication In Architecture Art And Design

The book presents the proceedings of Rob/Arch 2016, the third international conference on robotic fabrication in architecture, art, and design. The work contains a wide range of contemporary topics, from methodologies for incorporating dynamic material feedback into existing fabrication processes, to novel interfaces for robotic programming, to new processes for large-scale automated construction. The latent argument behind this research is that the term ‘file-to-factory’ must not be a reductive celebration of expediency but instead a perpetual challenge to increase the quality of feedback between design, matter, and making.

This volume collects about 20 contributions on the topic of robotic construction methods. It is a proceedings volume of the robarch2012 symposium and workshop, which will take place in December 2012 in Vienna. Contributions will explore the current status quo in industry, science and practitioners. The symposium will be held as a biennial event. This book is to be the first of the series, comprising the current status of robotics in architecture, art and design.

Robotic automation has become ubiquitous in the modern manufacturing landscape, spanning an overwhelming range of processes and applications-- from small scale force-controlled grinding operations for orthopedic joints to large scale composite manufacturing of aircraft fuselages. Smart factories, seamlessly linked via industrial networks and sensing, have revolutionized mass production, allowing for intelligent, adaptive manufacturing processes across a broad spectrum of industries. Against this background, an emerging group of researchers, designers, and fabricators have begun to apply robotic technology in the pursuit of architecture, art, and design, implementing them in a range of processes and scales. Coupled with computational design tools the technology is no longer relegated to the repetitive production of the assembly line, and is instead being employed for the mass-customization of non-standard components. This radical shift in protocol has been enabled by the development of new design to production workflows and the recognition of robotic manipulators as “multi-functional” fabrication platforms, capable of being reconfigured to suit the specific needs of a process. The emerging discourse surrounding robotic fabrication seeks to question the existing norms of manufacturing and has far reaching implications for the future of how architects, artists, and designers engage with materialization processes. This book presents the proceedings of Rob|Arch2014, the second international conference on robotic fabrication in architecture, art, and design. It includes a Foreword by Sigrid Brell-Cokcan and Johannes Braumann, Association for Robots in Architecture. The work contained traverses a wide range of contemporary topics, from methodologies for incorporating dynamic material feedback into existing fabrication processes, to novel interfaces for robotic programming, to new processes for large-scale automated construction. The latent argument behind this research is that the term ‘file-to-factory’ must not be a reductive celebration of expediency but instead a perpetual challenge to increase the quality of feedback between design, matter, and making.

The book presents research from Rob|Arch 2018, the fourth international conference on robotic fabrication in architecture, art, and design. In capturing the myriad of scientific advances in robotics fabrication that are currently underway – such as collaborative design tools, computerised materials, adaptive sensing and actuation, advanced construction, on-site and cooperative robotics, machine-learning, human-machine interaction, large-scale fabrication and networked workflows, to name but a few – this compendium reveals how robotic fabrication is becoming a driver of scientific innovation, cross-disciplinary fertilization and creative capacity of an unprecedented kind.

The work contained traverses a wide range of contemporary topics, from methodologies for incorporating dynamic material feedback into existing fabrication processes, to novel interfaces for robotic programming, to new processes for large-scale automated construction. The latent argument behind this research is that the term 'file-to-factory' must not be a reductive celebration of expediency but instead a perpetual challenge to increase the quality of feedback between design, matter, and making. Coupled with computational design tools the technology is no longer relegated to the repetitive production of the assembly line, and is instead being employed for the mass-customization of non-standard components. This radical shift in protocol has been enabled by the development of new design to production workflows and the recognition of robotic manipulators as "multi-functional" fabrication platforms, capable of being reconfigured to suit the specific needs of a process.

This volume collects about 20 contributions on the topic of robotic construction methods. It is a proceedings volume of the robarch2012 symposium and workshop, which will take place in December 2012 in Vienna. Contributions will explore the current status quo in industry, science and practitioners. The symposium will be held as a biennial event. This book is to be the first of the series, comprising the current status of robotics in architecture, art and design.

The book presents research from Rob.

This volume collects about 20 contributions on the topic of robotic construction methods. It is a proceedings volume of the robarch2012 symposium and workshop, which will take place in December 2012 in Vienna. Contributions will explore the current status quo in industry, science and practitioners. The symposium will be held as a biennial event. This book is to be the first of the series, comprising the current status of robotics in architecture, art and design.

The adoption of digital fabrication in the creative industries continues to accelerate as the potential for innovation and creative expression using robotics is harnessed. The continuing evolution of robotic fabrication and creative robotics in architecture, art, and design-toward the integration of human-robot interactions informed by sensor input and real-time feedback under diverse environmental conditions. Developed for factory automation, industrial robots offer accuracy, flexibility, and reliability with reduced operational costs. For these reasons, artists and designers seeking to explore and expand the possibilities of computational design, parametric modeling, and real-time sensor feedback have enthusiastically adopted industrial robots. The efforts of early pioneers in the field and the adoption of open standards for programming and connectivity by manufacturers have lowered the barriers to exploring the creative application of industrial robotics, allowing even more creative practitioners to get involved. Digital fabrication combined with open-source hardware and software has opened up the development of novel technologies, interfaces, and methods to interdisciplinary teams of designers, artists, and engineers. Creative robotics offers new insights into the potential of robotics as researchers and practitioners explore novel approaches to fabrication and interaction with robotics. The flexible nature of industrial robotics presents an opportunity to reconsider the entire design-to-production process, while the integration of real-time sensor feedback has created opportunities for working with new materials and processes that bring design and production closer.

Although highly ambitious and sophisticated, most attempts at using robotic processes in architecture remain the exception; little more than prototypes or even failures at a larger scale. This is because the general approach is either to automate existing manual processes or the complete construction process. However, the real potential of robots remains unexploited if used merely for the execution of highly repetitive mass-fabrication processes: their capability for serial production of non-standard elements as well as for varied construction processes is mostly wasted. In order to scale up and advance the application of robotics, for both prefabrication and on-site construction, there needs to be an understanding of the different capabilities, and these should be considered right from the start of the design and planning process. This issue of AD showcases the findings of the Architecture and Digital Fabrication research module at the ETH Zurich Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore, directed by Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler, which explores the possibilities of robotic construction processes for architecture and their large-scale application to the design and construction of high-rise buildings. Together with other contributors, they also look at the far-reaching transformations starting to occur within automated fabrication: in terms of liberation of labour, entrepreneurship, the changing shape of building sites, in-situ fabrication and, most significantly, design. Contributors: Thomas Bock, Jelle Feringa, Philippe Morel, Neri Oxman, Antoine Picon and François Roche. ETH Zurich contributors: Michael Budig, Norman Hack, Willi Lauer and Jason Lim and Raffael Petrovic (Future Cities Laboratory), Volker Helm, Silke Langenberg and Jan Willmann. Featured entrepreneurs: Greyshed, Machineous, Odico Formwork Robotics, RoboFold and ROB Technologies.