The Master in Robotics and Advanced Construction (MRAC) seeks to train a new generation of interdisciplinary professionals who are capable of facing our growing need for a more sustainable and optimised construction ecosystem. The Master is focused on the emerging design and market opportunities arising from novel robotic and advanced manufacturing systems.
Through a mixture of seminars, workshops, and studio projects, the master programme challenges the traditional processes in the Construction Sector. It investigates how advances in robotics and digital fabrication tools change the way we build and develop processes and design tools for such new production methods.
Adaptive Framework for Hybrid Slicing Strategies in Large-Scale Robotic Fabrication of AI-Derived Architectural Systems Throughout history, imagined worlds have existed through literature, cinema, and digital environments, continuously expanding architecture beyond the built. Today, AI allows these speculative realities to be generated with unprecedented complexity, while robotic fabrication enables their materialization. Through an adaptive framework using … Read more
Robotic Fabrication of Small-Diameter Whole Timber for Construction Systems in a Plantation Forestry Context
A Collaborative Human-in-the-Loop Clay Modelling System The Question What if anyone could sculpt a wall like an artist? That question sits at the center of Clay Create, a collective ceramic fabrication system where non-specialized users participate in the production of a wall of unique modules, each one manually shaped by a different person. The project … Read more
The goal of the workshop “From Matter to Model: Materials Intelligence” was to understand materials before designing with them, their properties, geometry and fabrication logic, in order to develop a column sculpture proposal composed of base, body and capital. As a hands-on exercise, we built a column of compressed earth blocks and lime mortar using … Read more
Faculty: Nacho Monereo & Prottay Roy ChowdhuryGuest Artist: Maria Mallo The project focused on creating a dynamic feedback loop between digital design, robotic positioning, and human craftsmanship. Instead of treating the robot as a fully autonomous machine, the workflow emphasized continuous interaction and mutual dependency between human and machine during fabrication. The installation was fabricated … Read more
Introduction This workshop explores new modes of architectural production through active collaboration between humans and robots, shifting away from traditional models of automation toward hybrid systems of shared decision-making. Rather than understanding the robot as a fully autonomous tool, it is framed as an agent that cooperates with the human in real time, creating a … Read more
Neuron is a project developed during the IAAC MRAC 3.1 Welding Workshop that explores human–robot collaboration in the assembly of space-frame structures. The project focuses on the interaction between a Universal Robots UR10e robotic arm and a human welder, working together to assemble pre-cut steel bars through a continuous exchange between robotic precision and human … Read more
Rethinking Robotics Through Experience Reflections on a lecture by Madeline Gannon Introduction “Somehow, someway, I have built a career out of misusing technology.” Madeline Gannon has spent over a decade working at the intersection of industrial robotics, art, and human interaction. This text presents a thematic synthesis of her lecture for the MRAC, followed by … Read more
