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.
The primary goal of this project is to design and fabricate a custom end-effector that can be attached to an ABB robot. The system that our group decided to explore involves the idea of utilizing an airbrush and robotically controlling it. This system will utilize a Raspberry Pi Pico for control and Grasshopper for generating … Read more
Stack Lamination: Exploring the Intersection of Subtractive and Additive Manufacturing Brief: This workshop was conceived with the aim of familiarizing participants with the procedural intricacies of Stack Lamination milling, employing an Industrial KUKA robot arm. The methodology encompassed the integration of both digital and conventional fabrication approaches. We engaged in practical applications of 3-axis CNC … Read more
Brief Our curiosity brought us to an intriguing investigation at the nexus of technology, craftsmanship, and acoustics in the quest to elevate spatial design. This blog shares the story of our journey, where we used a cutting-edge multi-material 3D printing technique to produce personalized sound-diffusing walls—a first for the industry. Our concept began with a … Read more
State of the Art In the quest for sustainable and energy-efficient cooling solutions, the TerraCool project endeavors to harness the natural properties of clay through the innovative application of multi-material 3D printing technology. This research project aims to develop an advanced evaporative cooling system utilizing seashell ceramic. “TerraCool” is not only a testament to the … Read more
State Of The Art Utilization of robotics within the additive manufacturing world is becoming more and more standardized as the needs of people and the environment are changing. The construction industry itself has to produce more efficient structures with very little to no waste, and the capabilities of robots to do this are very apparent. … Read more
This project explores the computational logic and thinking to design an iterative growth algorithm that enforces specific filters and rules of selection to inform the assemblage of simple building blocks.In Grasshopper the Anemone plug-in is used as the tool to iterate over the computational logic, informing how the geometry will behave within the digital environment … Read more
The introductory software course emphasizes computational logic, focusing on the assembly and growth processes in design, navigated meticulously by grasshopper algorithms. Voxels are introduced as fundamental units, which, when combined and altered, form a complex system of geometric structures. Using plugins like Anemone which allow loops to occur we are easily able to create permutations … Read more
In Software I, we explored computational logic with a focus on iterative processes. Using voxels (short for volume elements), we created collections of geometric elements using the Grasshopper and Anemone plugins. The goal of the seminar was to gain a deeper understanding of iterative processes and computational logic. Specifically, we focused on creating voxel-based shapes … Read more
Abstract The main objective of the Software I seminar was to engage in computational logics and growth assemblages using voxels as its main geometrical component. The logic utilizes algorithms and visual programming in Grasshopper and Loops using Anemone Plugin. By definition, an assemblage is the process of combining individual components or parts to generate a … Read more
The project focuses on generative assemblies comprised of multiple identical modules. It is crucial to design the shape of the components and the connection points between each of them, as well as not to add occlusions. Components will grow randomly depending on the shape as well as the location of the connection points. The design … Read more
The industry of construction creates most of the waste in the world. By 2025 we expect to reach 2.2 billion tons globally. As a solution of this problem, industry 4.0 proposed the Additive manufacturing process, which is looking for the optimization of fabrication and construction adding layer by layer different materials; this process started being … Read more
Parts that Precede Buildings This course helped us to gain a comprehensive understanding of discrete building systems with the use of prefabrication and automation. During this one week workshop, discussed topics such as timber prefabrication, robotics and discrete computation for later on participating with a hands-on approach to build several structures using timber boxes and … Read more
Optimizing 3D Printing with AI prediction Introduction In this seminar we applied the concepts of machine learning to estimate the deformation during drying of simplified 3D printed clay objects. To do this, we trained an artificial neural network (ANN) to predict the movement of discrete points within the printed object. This project is very relevant … Read more
AIM \\ To create custom designed, 3D printed interior surface cladding, constructed of individual components with high quality surface finish and tolerance. CONTEXT \\ Last term we designed a dual end effector that would have an extruder and a wire cutter within the same tool, allowing us to post process the 3D printed pieces to … Read more
Context Additive manufacturing is growing exponentially in many industries at many levels, pushing towards new upgrades as a competitive alternative by reducing its logistic and production costs and increasing its flexibility and adaptability to the market’s demand. However, there is still an important challenge that it is facing: a gap on matching references between physical … Read more
