Assign 8: Script for Position

Assignment 8: Inspiration

Inspiration for our felt assemblies.

MPDL's Obzee Headquarters

http://www.monicaponcedeleon.com/Obzee-Headquarters

Assignment 8 Step1

We found that if these two robots were not on the same height, the strip was not symmetrical and it couldn't stand on the table, so we run the robots to the same height to fix this problem. Also, the strip cannot be too long, otherwise it couldn't stand on the table either.

Assignment 7

Due to technological difficulties, we were unable to get the rest of the video here.

Assignment 7: A Stack of Errors

Zhe Lin's Response to Reading 6: Changing Building Sites

This passage describes the history of industrialization from Industrial Revolution to nowadays. Robotic fabrication is the latest one and knowing the status of fabrication before robotic fabrication really helps me understand the appearance of robotic fabrication.

Generally, construction goes from manual work to automatic work, from mass production to customized production, from western to eastern. Because of the serious housing shortage during the 1920s and 1930s, there was a huge demand in saving time and cost of construction. At that time, industrialization was introduced to building process. Then prefabrication was used in more and more process of construction. Above mainly happened in Europe and US. In the 1960s, Asian countries, especially Japan, began to explore automation in prefabrication and construction. Automation in prefabrication first came out, which was quite successful with customization and personalization. Then Japan invented single-task construction robots which were used on the construction sites. Later in Japan integrated automated construction sites appeared, which was not widely used because of its expensive costs.

We are now in the era of robotic fabrication, which is automatic and customized and Robotic fabrication is gradually changing the construction sites. I understand the pros and cons of robotic fabrication better by contrasting it to previous construction method. Robotic fabrication is still used mainly in small scale construction and too expensive to be widely used. We need to expand the range of robotic fabrication in order to use it in common construction sites. However, I believe that robotic fabrication is just a process, not the end in the history of industrial construction, like other previous processes. As the society changes and the demands of customers change, new technology will come out. 

Assignment 7: tools

Maya Lin's Systematic Landscapes

Our team's inspiration for fabricating our "wall" system.

Project7 Grasshopper

We want to simulate mayalin surface in both direction of z and x.

Furthermore, we will try to rotate each layer in order to make the stack more interesting.

My problem with grasshopper is that when I finish putting the fist layer of wood with robot, my rhino got stuck. My computer became extremely slow, but I don't think the grasshopper file is that complicated. 

My logic of coding is finding points on a specif curve. The distance with the points is the thick of wood and glue. The points are the center of the bottom of wood. 

Files

https://drive.google.com/a/umich.edu/file/d/0B1i4U_-pEPk5U3JSaUpMT3MxX2c/view?usp=sharing

https://drive.google.com/a/umich.edu/file/d/0B1i4U_-pEPk5WWdXTENtM1lvWWc/view?usp=sharing

Assignment 7: Stacking Process

Zhe Lin's Reflection on Reading 5: Authoring Robotic Processes

This passage talks about ‘digital materiality’ of robots which happened in the past few years. This idea is mentioned in reading4 as well and the lab in Singapore is taken as an example in this passage. Unlike 3d printer or other method, robotic fabrication doesn’t dematerialize the model into pure form. On the contrary, it materializes the digital model. This is a big process which allows the robotics to be used in the construction site. Robotic fabrication can be used not only at model scale but also at full scale. The range of robotic fabrication has been greatly expanded.

Because of the materialization in robotic fabrication, architects need to consider material and construction more during design. The logic of the given material became important to architects. Architects explore the potential and assembly of material together with robots. Robots allow architects to try novel forms of architecture. They can use differentiated assembly of same elements or different elements. On the contrary, in the past, architects had to use same elements or same assembly method, which restricted the potential of architecture. With robotic fabrication, architects can find more novel forms.

At last, architects are not satisfied with the practice of robotic fabrication. They want to build a theory for robotics in order to define architectural production in today’s world. Theory can help architects think deeper into the basic elements of robotic fabrication. Only if robotics become an theory can it be accepted by the mainstream or remembered by the descendants. Unlike other engineering, architecture needs both practice and theory. This can be the next challenge for robotics.

Assign 6: Quadrants 3 + 4

Assignment 6: Nails in Quadrant 1 + 2

Zhe Lin's Reflection on Reading 4: Integrating Robotic Fabrication in the Design Process

Robotic fabrication is the most cutting-edge technology in architectural field. It combines the advantages of hand-made models and digital models. Models made by robotic fabrication still contain the details which architects need, such as structure and construction method. It also gives architects the direct feedback of space. Robotic is more precise than human so that the models made by robotic have a closer relationship with the digital models.

However, there are some prerequisites to use robotic fabrication to build physical models. First, architects should clearly know the computational logics of the design. Second, architects should

Have a good command of programming and robotics. Because robotic fabrication is so new to architects that lack of these prerequisites restrains some architects from using robotic fabrication. I think it is necessary to start to learn something about robotic fabrication, because it will become the mainstream.

Robotic fabrication is awesome, but is still one-way from digital world to physical world. I hope that one day the physical world could be reflected in computer easily. It is like what we used several weeks ago, the 123D app. It allows the physical models to be translated into digital models. I hope that when we physically changed the model produced by robotic fabrication, the digital model could change too, which is a two-2ay interaction between physical world and digital world.

Reading 4 Response: Jay Tyan

It seemed almost counter-intuitive at first, but robots definitely have a place in producing one-off or low-volume custom pieces.  This is now very common in many fields, such as CNC machining (they're robots anyway) specialized car parts.  In 2012 and 2013, Ford used CNC mills to manufacture the high-flow cylinder heads for the limited-run Mustang Boss 302's V8.  Due to some technological advancement in the casting method, identical heads are now used on every 2015 Mustang GT's 5.0 V8 at a far lower cost.

The first thing that actually came into mind was the Toni Stabile Student Center at Columbia University.  Results of using algorithms and Grasshopper are apparent throughout the building.  Elements such as the wall with the building image dotted into it, or the ceiling panels that optimize acoustics are things that could only have been done by robots and computer programs, and that doesn't make them any less unique.  Usually when people think about robotic fabrication, they think of assembly line-like environments where millions of the same thing are produced.  The idea that a robot can aid in creating custom pieces doesn't come naturally, but if you think about it, what kind of person can measure and cut thousands of holes, each of a slightly different size, precisely and efficiently on dozens of wall panels? That's a job for a robot.  Using Grasshopper and an automated machine, we can create unique things even if they require the repetitive, precise movement of a robot (with a software and file, you have the option of making thousands of copies, too).  Digital technology shouldn't be seen as a limiting factor upon human creativity, but rather a tool to explore new possibilities.

Reading 4 / Kallie Sternburgh: Integrating Robotic Fabrication in the Design Process

The work of the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore is an interesting research investment in digi-fab variation.  Because robotic technologies have an accuracy that human hands may not have, complex algorithmic form can be explored through fabrication. However, scaled models, in this case, are less about being artifacts of form, than they are about the execution of production.  High-rise housing is an appropriate building type to pair design and robotics with because of its traditional industrialized processes and efficiency, yet have opportunities for liberating both form and tectonic sensibilities. 

I found the resulting projects to be interesting because it is clear how robotic fabrication can be viewed as an expressive and creative act to perform architecture; quite contrary to how most seem to perceive digital technology today.  As some folks may come from the party that digital technology may hinder our abilities to express ourselves, perhaps what is most compelling is how digi-fab has the potential to be a catalyst in a design process’ intention and expression. The question is: will robots ever become just another tool to add to our list of resources (an extension of our design will, or have the ability to express something outside of themselves), or will robots + digital technology always be limited to only express internal digital sensibilities?

It appears that the Future Cities Laboratory projects are tapping into both possibilities.

Reading response 4 Integrating Robotic Fabrication in the design process Di Fan

3D physical models has always been an important technique for architects to study space and complete design. In the past 2 decades, computer aided design dominated the architectural field, using 2D screen to represent 3D space. It is much faster than doing physical models. However, though it potentially contains all construction details down to the smallest component, it still cannot be replaced by physical models as working models provide architects with a direct and physical means to study and understand the three-dimensionality of their design.

This article introduced a kind of method, a tendency that will be applied frequently in the near future, which is to use robot arm to complete physical models. That technology combines both advantages of computer processing and physical models in the real 3D world. The most significant result is to be found in the increasing awareness of computational logic among the students exposed to this design methodology. Digital fabrication technology allows architects to deal with their design both digitally and physically. I think it is a very crucial skill for students to hold, though robot arms still have many flaws during our operations. In the past, we do our design model on the computer and make models of the design by hand separately, as digital models can indicate more details containing structures and materials, while physical models can show us more information about the scale and its complex spatial logic. Now, if those two features could be connected together, it will help us a lot in completing our work.

Assignment 6: Run-ins