Michael's Reading Response: Authoring Robotic Process

This article discusses and commends the development of robotic fabrication into the digital age. The initial integration of robotic fabrication into architecture saw less than ideal results, as early development lead to a high degree of specificity. In the 1990’s the specificity of each robotic application to each construction process did little more than increase productivity, adding little to no architectural value. Further development of digital manufacturing lead to the use of the industrially proven multi-axis robots, providing a new versatility. This article stresses the versatility attributed to the multi axis robot and its ability to be customized for a wider variety of applications. “- unleashing a previously unimaginable range of freedom in the interplay between the machine and the object.”

Going beyond the introduction of robotics into digital fabrication this article puts emphasis on the synthesis of robotics and the process of architecture. “Only once digital architecture has assumed a more radical, substantial role in the aesthetic and material realization of architecture will the discipline finally arrive in the digital age.” Essentially for robotics to be fully integrated into the design process it must provide a means of translating the digital realm into the physical. 

This article discusses three projects that truly integrate robotic process, materiality, and design concepts. The first project is the Gantenbein Vineyard façade, using robotics on a large scale to generate an irregular brick façade. The second project expands upon this idea of stacking irregular brick structures by using aerial robotics. “flight assembled architecture” The third project refers to the previously discussed Future Cities Lab producing 1:50 scale models through robotic fabrication. Each of these projects emphasizes the use of robotics to produce a physical model through a variety of materials and processes. By robotically producing physical architecture from the digital world, architecture is pushed forward into the digital age.