The Master Programme in Robotics and Advanced Construction is an innovative educational format that offers interdisciplinary skills and understanding through a series of class seminars that are put into practice through hands-on workshops. IAAC gives students the opportunity to create individual studio agendas and develop Pilot Thesis Projects based on the knowledge acquired during the seminars and workshops split into 3 Modules. In this way, IAAC puts together an experimental learning environment for the training of professionals with both theoretical and practical responses to the increasing complexity of the construction sector.
“Anatomy of a Machine: SHAPE” is a research project from the MRAC program that seeks to integrate knowledge from previous explorations in spill and strokes. To achieve shape, clay stamping was selected as the primary fabrication tool, establishing a 40x40cm working area as the base for experimentation. The project investigates how precise robotic movements—varying position, … Read more
Context This exercise explores robotic fabrication processes through the direct manipulation of malleable materials. The assignment consisted of producing a 2.5D clay piece, measuring 40 × 40 cm with a maximum height of 5 cm, understood as a physical result of a robotically applied force on soft matter.Rather than designing a predefined form, the goal … Read more
Introduction In Anatomy of a Machine: Spill, we designed and built our own paint-spilling tools and worked with large robotic arms to create expressive, A0-scale paintings. Over the weeks, we tested movements with our hands, translated them into robotic trajectories, and refined both the tools and the resulting spill patterns. Using Arduino and laser-cut acrylic … Read more
Exploring Clay 3D Printing Through Viscosity, Speed, and Time For the Shape exercise within Anatomy of the Machine, we worked with clay as a material, specifically focusing on robotic 3D printing using clay extrusion. The objective was to understand how material behavior, robotic parameters, and geometry interact, and how form emerges from the machine–material relationship. … Read more
In the second exercise of Anatomy of a Machine, our goal was to understand how a robot expresses itself through material behavior. Instead of carving or shaping solids, we explored how liquid material behaves when actuated, accelerated, and released through a controlled spraying mechanism. “Spill” became a study of force, viscosity, height, angle, and timing … Read more
Over the past four weeks, we developed a project focused on designing and fabricating a custom-made end effector for a robotic arm, with the aim of producing a painting on a canvas using black acrylic paint. Unlike the first assignment, where the drawing tool was predefined, this time we were required to build our own … Read more
Initial drawing explorations Mapping Human Gesture to Robotic Logic Introduction The first assignment of Anatomy of a Machine explores a fundamental question:How can a robot reproduce something as subtle, intuitive and continuous as a human brushstroke? Before defining any toolpath, our goal was to momentarily step away from machines and instead observe our own hands … Read more
Introduction This project investigates the dialogue between human gesture and robotic motion through painting. Over three weeks, students study brush behavior, paint flow, and stroke dynamics, beginning manually and progressively translating gestures into robotic trajectories. The final outcome is an A2 robot-made painting, accompanied by a vectorial drawing and a 60-second video, reflecting the anatomy … Read more
For our second studio task the aim was to further experiment painting with robots; this time extending what paintings could be achieved when a standard brush was replaced by a custom made ‘spilling’ end effector controlled by an Arduino Uno. This was set through the brief as: To explore and consider, how a tool might … Read more
Introduction The Anatomy of a Machine: Stroke project explores the dialogue between human and robotic motion through painting. Conducted during the first MRAC studio, the exercise investigates how the physical behavior of paint, brush, and hand movement can be translated into robotic articulation. Over three weeks, we studied the anatomy of a brushstroke — first … Read more
