The aim of this project is to present an adaptive construction process with designed aggregate systems using an industrial robotic arm and robotic control systems based on behavioral robotics. The goal is to find a way to generate and re-generate granular matter and use different design criteria to reconfigure it at any point of its construction.
The project demonstrates a regenerative construction process with designed particles using an industrial robotic arm and primitive behaviors. This technique exploits the aggregate systems ability to be recycled into a variety of temporary stable shapes through a behavior-based control system that utilizes online sensing to evaluate and act on the present emergent state.
The system iterates through three fundamental steps: the robot produces the particles, aggregates them into structures, and disaggregates the particles back into stock matter. Aggregates can be regenerated or rearranged to meet different programmatic, structural, and environmental demands while the robotic arm serves as both the recycling tool and the online-controlled deposition machine.
ITECH M.Sc. Thesis Project 2015: Regenerative Matter - Behavior-based robotic strategies for Adaptive Design of Aggregate Systems
Ondrej Kyjanek, Leyla Yunis
Thesis Advisers: Karola Dierichs, Lauren Vasey
Thesis Supervisor: Prof. Achim Menges
Second Supervisor: Prof. Jan Knippers