IAAC – Master in Robotics and Advanced Construction
R.s // Advanced Technology Seminar
Faculty: Raimund Krenmueller, Angel Muñoz

WICKED TECTONICS
ENABLING ROBOTIC OPERATIONS IN ILL-DEFINED DOMAINS

In the context of the current paradigm of Industry 4.0, production processes are becoming more and more informed by multiple streams of data of different levels and modalities. For this seminar, we aim to explore the integration of sensors in processes involving a UR10 6-Axis industrial robots, with the goal of controlling the handling and manipulation of materials, objects and environments with limited prior knowledge about their physical properties or geometry: they are, in this sense, “wicked”.


Credits: WALL-E, Disney/Pixar 2008

In such conditions, the information necessary to operate in a controlled way needs to be acquired either before or during the process (i.e. extracted from raw data that is itself captured by sensors), and then integrated in the program that is controlling the machine, to achieve its goals. 

Translating this into a working technical implementation therefore requires linking hardware and software components at several levels, such as sensing and processing, computational design, control & simulation, and physical manipulation.

In this seminar, we aim to set up a working robotic system that is able to cope with “wicked” domains, by implementing and integrating the necessary technical building blocks on all levels of such a system.  The generic setup will then be customised and applied in the context of the individual thesis projects.

Learning Objectives


By the end of this seminar, students will have acquired the necessary skills and concepts to be able to: 

  • Conceptualise and design a robotic fabrication or assembly system with sensor integration in architecture- and construction-related scenarios
  • Use the tools necessary to design and communicate the anatomy of such a system
  • Implement it, by implementing and integrating the required sensing, processing, design, simulation, control and manipulation tools  

KEYWORDS:
Industry 4.0, sensing, scanning, feedback loops, adaptive processes, real-time feedback, system integration