Abstract
Although the advances of autonomous control in robotics broke new ground in the realization of architecture, they have hardly been integrated with architectural design intention. Very few examples of architecture-specific robot exist. This results from multiple realistic factors including the scalability and cost. However, the fundamental incentive lies in the stereotypical design ideology that fails to develop new spatial agendas to stimulate the integration. This paper presents a design workflow that revolves around designing an architectural robot. An operational full-scale architectural robot of an actuated active transforming structure was prototyped and tested to demonstrate the workflow. The design is based on a prototyping model with pneumatic actuation system and sensing using computer vision. The structure interacts with human by detecting face features and actively transforming its gesture to prevent human from approaching. The communication is based on a simulation-model-free host program that constantly reads sensor feedbacks and sends actuation values.
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Notes
- 1.
Raffaello D’Andrea and Max Dean, Table. Accessed: 14 January, 2019. https://raffaello.name/projects/table/.
- 2.
Raffaello D’Andrea, Max Dean and Matt Donovan, Robotic Chair. Accessed: 14 January, 2019. https://raffaello.name/projects/robotic-chair/.
- 3.
Yuan Yao, Yang Hong, and Yuhan Li. Hexy_AADRL Research Book 2016-2017. Accessed: 14 January, 2019. https://issuu.com/yuanyao2014/docs/finalupload_small/.
- 4.
Parametric Design Workshop, School of Architecture, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 2017. Instructor: Ji Shi, Zigeng Wang. Teaching Assistant: Dinglu Wang, Pengcheng Sun, Jingsong Wang. Student: Xiangfan Chen, Ziyao Geng, Yao Jiang, Zhan Zhang, Wen Si, Shang Liu, Yujie Wang. The workshop was organized by Prof. Weiguo Xu.
- 5.
Project for Studio ARC505B Architectural Robotics – Embodied Computation, Fall 2016 taught by Prof. Axel Kilian and Ji Shi, Princeton University.
- 6.
Hardware details: Inner tube of the PAM actuator: KENDA bicycle inner tube 700*23/25 C 60L; Sheath of the PAM actuator: LEIXINTE Terminal 35Â mm diameter PETE braided cable sleeve; Custom made PAM fittings at two end: CNC fabricated 35Â mm diameter nylon rod.
- 7.
The face detection Processing sketch used in this case is based on Greg Borenstein’s OpenCV Computer vision library for processing. Greg Borenstein, Open CV. Accessed: 14 January, 2019. https://github.com/atduskgreg/opencv-processing.
- 8.
Jeff Hoefs. Firmata Firmware for Arduino. Accessed: 14 January, 2019. https://github.com/firmata/arduino.
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Acknowledgements
This research was supported by Tsinghua University School of Architecture. The author would like to express great appreciation to the instructors and teaching assistants of the workshop, specifically, Zigeng Wang, Pengcheng Sun, Dinglu Wang, Jingsong Wang for their contributions in teaching. The author would also like to express deep gratitude to Yujie Wang for the post-workshop work and continuous insightful inputs to the research. The author would also like to extend grateful thanks to Prof. Axel Kilian, whose work has greatly inspired and motivated the author to do the research.
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Shi, J., Wang, Y., Liu, S. (2020). Designing an Architectural Robot: An Actuated Active Transforming Structure Using Face Detection. In: Yuan, P., Xie, Y., Yao, J., Yan, C. (eds) Proceedings of the 2019 DigitalFUTURES . CDRF 2019. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-8153-9_26
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