Having gained substantial momentum within the past decade, advancements in the field of robotics in architecture continue to develop at an astonishing rate. Countless experiments, demonstrations and professional applications of automated assembly applications carried out in academic institutions and professional fields across the globe point to a host of inevitably transformative impacts within design professions and construction industries. It is evident that ever-widening access to robotic equipment provides architects with unique opportunities to extend their reach into fundamentally new modes of design, spatial operation and material production. This introductory course aims to serve as a point of entry into this wide field of potential and development, and is geared to be a hands-on working seminar utilizing the Kuka robotic arm (KR 120 R2500 PRO) and other systems in the Digital Fabrication Laboratory (DFL).
Spring 2020 Students
Darcy Brown
Jordan Graves
Shantanu Kushalappa
Collin Grill
Sookwang Lee
Will Reynolds
ASSIGNMENT 001 SPATIAL TRACING
ASSIGNMENT 002 SURFACE MARKING
ASSIGNMENT 003 MASS TIMBER PROTOCOLS + CONFIGURATIONS
KUKA|prc simulation for test-cuts, seen through Fologram :
Fully dialed in and first successful cut-demos, 24 hours before the Covid-19 lockdown:
After weeks of diligence and development, everyone was incredibly excited to put their skills to the test and cut complexly interlocking cross-laminated timber (CLT) components. However, the sudden shift to remote realities prevented us from exploiting our newly installed tool and collective control over our robotic chainsaw. As such, we re-positioned our mission for the final weeks of the semester into a fully digital mode that proved to be super productive. Robotic Operations participants were tasked to form teams, rapidly design robotic timber projections and program our robotic chainsaw to produce key nodes of the resultant spatial systems. This culminated in a fresh burst of technical acuity and a host of GH / Kuka|PRC template files that are geared to both inspire and facilitate robotic production at GT School of Architecture in the near future.
