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ROBOTIC EXTRUSION

Research of Digital Craftsmanship & Autonomous Fabrication

The project, Robotic 6-Axis 3D Printing, is a highly-integrated installation combining robotics, 3D printing technique and interactive interface. It aims to provide the designer a digital method to eliminate the line between "Designing" and "Fabricating". In this case, architects provides more than just drawings and construction notes, however, they are capable of fabricating their work quickly and precisely by themselves.

Most of today's researches and applications of robotic fabrication are limited to replicating human labor and raising efficiency of manufacturing. However, in the project of Robotic 6-Axis 3D Printing, we developed a fabrication strategy learning and emulating the law of nature (referring to Chinese philosophy "师法自然 "). By studying the material and structure performance of 3D form in nature, we figured out a way to incorporate biomimetic fabrication strategy into 3D printing process. And by designing the special robotic-end effector (Tooling) and utilizing the great flexibility and accuracy of KUKA robotics, the biomimetic fabricating process has been fully realized.

The whole process embodied the concept of "Digital Crafsmanship", which emphasis the personality of designer and allows them to closely intergrated "Designing" and "Fabricating".

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