Sense-It explores the potentials of materially-directed generative fabrication through an integration of research in robotic sensing, plastic deposition, and generative code. This approach tests the limits of a machine-material-sensor interface to act autonomously, without direct adjustments from an observing operator, and capitalizes on sensor responsiveness and material agency to produce unpredictable outcomes. This workshop moves away from optimization and efficiency as the primary drivers of digital fabrication in pursuit of a model where materials assume maximum agency in the fabrication process. Feedback loops between machining parameters, real-time sensors, and plastic deposition will infuse the workshop results with both intelligence and an intentional instability, where the outcomes can be guided but never fully predicted.

The Workshop participants are working in groups of three to four with Arduino microcontrollers, basic electronic components, and sensors to developing their own logic for the workshop’s unique sensor-deposition workflow. Manipulating simple code in Kuka Robot Language (KRL) and Arduinos, each group is testing physical deposition patterns using the sensor of their choice. Through design strategies comprised of small adjustments to the workflow’s many parameters—robot movements, speed of actuation, limits of sensor data, etc.—catalogue of possible outcomes is being created.

During this 4 days workshop, students from the Fabrication Ecologies research line of the Master in Advanced Architecture 2013 were able to develop and test a new fabrication protocol deploying Hemp fibres by means of an industrial robot.
Through the production of a 1:1 scale prototype, the 4 teams explored the design opportunities arising from 2 different fabrication techniques developed within the Fabrication Ecologies Studio, focussed on the production of:
- an aggregate substratum via pick and place of fibrous component units.
- a non-woven fabric skin via robotic spraying of row hemp filaments.

The collaborative effort progressed in loops, with the work of one group informing the operations of the next. The feedback was mediated by a set of interfaces for real-time scanning (Kinect) and digital generative modelling (Grasshopper). The fabrication process than evolved into a conversation between designer, machine, material system, designer, prototype, machine, designer, and so on; each loop driven by a set of negotiations and specific design decisions.

Such fabrication protocol opens the possibility for a new form of participatory mass-customisation, ones that operates in real-time during and takes into account multiple factors such as design intentions, material behaviour, mechanical constraints and microclimatic conditions.

Machinic Conversations II on Vimeo.

Program Directors: Marco Poletto, Claudia Pasquero,

Workshop tutors: Andrea Bugli, Alexandre Dubor
Students: Jean Akanish, Drew Carson, Franciso Castillo, Marisa Charusilawong, Alexander Dolan, Kartik Gala, Sofokli Giannakopoulous, Gabriela Gonzalez, Vincent Huyghe, Yogesh Karekar, Stefanos Levidis, Iker Luna, Peter Malaga, Niccolo Marini, Priyanka Narula, Venkatakasi Raju, Aishwarya Sampath, Ahmed Selim, Jin Shihui, Georgios Soutos, Ali Yerdel

Our first experimental set up was the following:

-The robot was controlled by each student via Grasshopper, through the use of the KUKA | Krc plug-in (from association for robots in architecture) for Grasshopper and Rhino. Each group did draw a series of parametric lines that would become the tool paths for the robot.

-A video simulation with the virtual robot in Grasshopper was performed by each student to understand the behaviour of the machine along the path and amend eventual errors; the video  would allow also the testing of multiple path parameters and robot behavioural options.

-The tool mounted on the robot contained 1 fixed LED light and 2 or 4 blinking ones; the blinking was also controlled via Grasshopper and related to the robotic arm path.

-A camera was positioned in front of the robot and its exposure tuned to the particular lighting conditions and the length in time of the tool path. Such configuration allowed capturing the ephemeral lighting traces left by the robotic arm movements. The robotic behaviour is therefore translated into a 3D robotic light painting.

FABRICATION ECOLOGIES 2013
Research Line Directors: Claudia Pasquero and Marco Poletto [ecoLogicStudio]
Robotic Fabrication Assistant : Alexandre Dubor
Students : Venkatakasi Raju, Dolan Alexander, Ali Yerdel, Francisco Castillo, Drew Carson, Georgios Soutos, Niccolo Marini, Priyanka Narula, Gabriela Gonzalez, Jin Shihui, Nasr Chamma, Kartikashok Gala, Aishwarya Sampath, Giannakopoulous Sofoklis, Vincent Huyghe, Peter  Malaga, Ahmed Selim, Iker Luna, Yogesh Karekar, Jean Akanish, Charusilawong Marisa, Levidis Stefanos