An Open Approach to Robotic Prototyping for Architectural Design and Construction

Abstract

Emerging from research in computational design and digital fabrication, the use of robot arms in architecture is now making its way in the practice of construction. However, their increasing diffusion has not yet corresponded to the development of shared approaches covering both digital (programming and simulation) and physical (end-effector design, system integration, IO communication) elements of robotic prototyping suited to the unique needs of architectural research. While parallel research streams defined various approaches to robotic programming and simulation, they all either (A) rely on custom combinations of software packages, or (B) are built on top of advanced robotic programming environments requiring a higher skill level in robotics than conventionally available in an architectural context. This paper proposes an alternative open-source toolkit enabling an intuitive approach to the orchestration of various hardware and software components required for robotic fabrication, including robot programming and simulation, end-effector design and actuation, and communication interfaces. The pipeline relies on three components: Robot Components, a plug-in for intuitive robot programming; Funken, a serial protocol toolkit for interactive prototyping with Arduino; and a flexible approach to end-effector design. The paper describes these components and demonstrates their use in a series of case studies, showing how they can be adapted to a variety of project typologies and user skills, while keeping highly complex and specific functionality available as an option, yielding good practices for a more intuitive translation from design to production.