WS3 : ReCycled
Sustainable strategies for robotic fabrication of segmented shells
Instructors: Maria Aceytuno Poch, Elena Shilova, Taole Chen

As the current construction industry is experiencing a large shift towards more integrated and sustainable processes, robotic fabrication is also becoming the answer to the fabrication of geometrically complex designs, such as tessellated freeform shell structures.

Robotic hot-wire cutting is being increasingly used by creatives for design mock-ups, large-scale installations, temporary structures and state-of the art pavilions. However, the material used for these types of production is often expensive and unsustainable, resulting in large amounts of waste. 

For this reason, this workshop aims to explore the usage of recycled materials and resource-saving cutting strategies to utilize data-driven robotic fabrication workflow to its full potential. This will be done in the form of a practical exercise, where the participants will learn to fabricate a tessellated shell structure with a 6-axis robotic arm.

The workshop is aimed at participants of various backgrounds; a great opportunity for engineers, architects and designers who are interested in robotic fabrication, and who will have a hands-on start on programming and prototyping production. Furthermore, pre-packaged, user-friendly scripts and guidance will be provided to allow the least experienced participants to get up to speed with the programme.

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General participant’s knowledge requirements:

• Basic knowledge of Rhino +Grasshopper (recommended)

• Experience in robotic fabrication is not required, but will be an advantage