Structural Innovation Through Digital Means: Wooden Waves, Galaxia, Conifera, Sandwaves, Polibot, Silkworm

This folio presents a body of investigation into the possibilities of innovative built structures developed by manipulating digital technologies to generate new structural systems and tested using manual as well as digital construction methods. Research is generated through a range of projects, in different contexts, at various scales, using innovative building and structural design, and considering the tools generated to make the project as part of the research output. The work further tests new and emerging patterns of architectural practice, construction and procurement. Projects have moved towards a more environmentally-friendly parametrically generated approach e.g. through developing re-useable and compostable structures. Mamou-Mani developed this research through commissioned briefs by clients and self-initiated competition entries for large-scale permanent structures. Often, projects are inspired by patterns found in nature, and the research explores, develops, tests and expands upon these parametrically to suggest new structural models. Structures included are the installations for Buro Happold’s headquarters (2015): for fashion brand COS (2018) –one of the largest PLA (bioplastic made from fermented sugar) 3D-printed structures in the world to date; the largest sand-printed installation to date; and the well-published 60 metre-wide, 20 metre-high Galaxia temporary temple building erected for the 2018 Burning Man event in the USA, duly burned down after use. Innovative procurement and construction methods involved working with volunteers and students as well as skilled construction teams, and formulating self-generated projects that raise finance using crowd-funding platforms and ‘investment angels’, and considering the new architectures these might generate. Software innovations include the Silkworm plugin that exports G-code from Grasshopper, enabling one of the world’s largest 3D-printed pavilions. Iterative knowledge development from this research is shared through the WeWantToLearn.net blog which has 1.6M viewers, as well hands-on exchange with volunteers, students and skilled construction teams, as well as more conventional dissemination

A review of geometry representation and processing methods for cartesian and multiaxial robot-based additive manufacturing

Nowadays, robot-based additive manufacturing (RBAM) is emerging as a potential solution to increase manufacturing flexibility. Such technology allows to change the orientation of the material deposition unit during printing, making it possible to fabricate complex parts with optimized material distribution. In this context, the representation of parts geometries and their subsequent processing become aspects of primary importance. In particular, part orientation, multiaxial deposition, slicing, and infill strategies must be properly evaluated so as to obtain satisfactory outputs and avoid printing failures. Some advanced features can be found in commercial slicing software (e.g., adaptive slicing, advanced path strategies, and non-planar slicing), although the procedure may result excessively constrained due to the limited number of available options. Several approaches and algorithms have been proposed for each phase and their combination must be determined accurately to achieve the best results. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art works addressing the primary methods for the representation of geometries and the subsequent geometry processing for RBAM. For each category, tools and software found in the literature and commercially available are discussed. Comparison tables are then reported to assist in the selection of the most appropriate approaches. The presented review can be helpful for designers, researchers and practitioners to identify possible future directions and open issues

Addressing Tasks Through Robot Adaptation

Developing flexible, broadly capable systems is essential for robots to move out of factories and into our daily lives, functioning as responsive agents that can handle whatever the world throws at them. This dissertation focuses on two kinds of robot adaptation. Modular self-reconfigurable robots (MSRR) adapt to the requirements of their task and environments by transforming themselves. By rearranging the connective structure of their component robot modules, these systems can assume different morphologies: for example, a cluster of modules might configure themselves into a car to maneuver on flat ground, a snake to climb stairs, or an arm to pick and place objects. Conversely, environment augmentation is a strategy in which the robot transforms its environment to meet its own needs, adding physical structures that allow it to overcome obstacles. In both areas, the presented work includes elements of hardware design, algorithms, and integrated systems, with the common goal of establishing these methods of adaptation as viable strategies to address tasks. The research takes a systems-level view of robotics, placing particular emphasis on experimental validation in hardware

A comparison of processing techniques for producing prototype injection moulding inserts.

This project involves the investigation of processing techniques for producing low-cost moulding inserts used in the particulate injection moulding (PIM) process. Prototype moulds were made from both additive and subtractive processes as well as a combination of the two. The general motivation for this was to reduce the entry cost of users when considering PIM. PIM cavity inserts were first made by conventional machining from a polymer block using the pocket NC desktop mill. PIM cavity inserts were also made by fused filament deposition modelling using the Tiertime UP plus 3D printer. The injection moulding trials manifested in surface finish and part removal defects. The feedstock was a titanium metal blend which is brittle in comparison to commodity polymers. That in combination with the mesoscale features, small cross-sections and complex geometries were considered the main problems. For both processing methods, fixes were identified and made to test the theory. These consisted of a blended approach that saw a combination of both the additive and subtractive processes being used. The parts produced from the three processing methods are investigated and their respective merits and issues are discussed

Fixtureless automated incremental sheet metal forming

Die-based forming is a technology used by many industries to form metal panels. However, this method of forming lacks flexibility and cost effectiveness. In such cases, manual panel beating is typically undertaken for incremental forming of metal panels. Manual panel forming is a highly skilled operation with very little documentation and is disappearing due to non-observance and a lack of interest. Confederation of British Metal forming (CBM) and Institution of Sheet Metal Engineering (ISME) have realised the need for capturing and understanding manual skills used by panel beaters to preserve the knowledge. At the same time, industries seek for alternative panel forming solutions to produce high quality and cost-effective parts at low volume and reduce the repetitive, yet adaptive parts of the panel forming process to free up skilled workers to concentrate on the forming activities that are more difficult to automate. Incremental forming technologies, currently in practice, lack adaptability as they require substantial fixtures and dedicated tools. In this research a new proof-of-concept fixtureless automated sheet metal forming approach was developed on the basis of human skills captured from panel beaters. The proposed novel approach, named Mechatroforming®, consists of integrated mechanisms to form simple sheet metal parts by manipulating the workpiece using a robotic arm under a repetitive hammering tool. Predictive motion planning based on FEA was analysed and the manual forming skills were captured using a motion capture system. This facilitated the coordinated hammering and motion of the part to produce the intended shape accurately. A 3D measurement system with a vertical resolution of 50μm was also deployed to monitor the formation of the parts and make corrections to the forming path if needed. Therefore, the developed mechatronic system is highly adjustable by robotic motion and was closed loop via the 3D measurement system. The developed automated system has been tested rigorously, initially for bowl shape parts to prove the principle. The developed system which is 98% repeatable for depth and diameter, is able to produce targeted bowl shape parts with ±1% dimensional accuracy, high surface quality, and uniform material thickness of 0.95mm when tested with aluminium. It is envisaged that by further research, the proposed approach can be extended to form irregular and more complicated shapes that are highly in demand in various industries

Reducing risk in pre-production investigations through undergraduate engineering projects.

This poster is the culmination of final year Bachelor of Engineering Technology (B.Eng.Tech) student projects in 2017 and 2018. The B.Eng.Tech is a level seven qualification that aligns with the Sydney accord for a three-year engineering degree and hence is internationally benchmarked. The enabling mechanism of these projects is the industry connectivity that creates real-world projects and highlights the benefits of the investigation of process at the technologist level. The methodologies we use are basic and transparent, with enough depth of technical knowledge to ensure the industry partners gain from the collaboration process. The process we use minimizes the disconnect between the student and the industry supervisor while maintaining the academic freedom of the student and the commercial sensitivities of the supervisor. The general motivation for this approach is the reduction of the entry cost of the industry to enable consideration of new technologies and thereby reducing risk to core business and shareholder profits. The poster presents several images and interpretive dialogue to explain the positive and negative aspects of the student process

Advances in Intelligent Robotics and Collaborative Automation

This book provides an overview of a series of advanced research lines in robotics as well as of design and development methodologies for intelligent robots and their intelligent components. It represents a selection of extended versions of the best papers presented at the Seventh IEEE International Workshop on Intelligent Data Acquisition and Advanced Computing Systems: Technology and Applications IDAACS 2013 that were related to these topics. Its contents integrate state of the art computational intelligence based techniques for automatic robot control to novel distributed sensing and data integration methodologies that can be applied to intelligent robotics and automation systems. The objective of the text was to provide an overview of some of the problems in the field of robotic systems and intelligent automation and the approaches and techniques that relevant research groups within this area are employing to try to solve them.The contributions of the different authors have been grouped into four main sections:• Robots• Control and Intelligence• Sensing• Collaborative automationThe chapters have been structured to provide an easy to follow introduction to the topics that are addressed, including the most relevant references, so that anyone interested in this field can get started in the area

Fabricate 2020

Fabricate 2020 is the fourth title in the FABRICATE series on the theme of digital fabrication and published in conjunction with a triennial conference (London, April 2020). The book features cutting-edge built projects and work-in-progress from both academia and practice. It brings together pioneers in design and making from across the fields of architecture, construction, engineering, manufacturing, materials technology and computation. Fabricate 2020 includes 32 illustrated articles punctuated by four conversations between world-leading experts from design to engineering, discussing themes such as drawing-to-production, behavioural composites, robotic assembly, and digital craft

Advances in Intelligent Robotics and Collaborative Automation

This book provides an overview of a series of advanced research lines in robotics as well as of design and development methodologies for intelligent robots and their intelligent components. It represents a selection of extended versions of the best papers presented at the Seventh IEEE International Workshop on Intelligent Data Acquisition and Advanced Computing Systems: Technology and Applications IDAACS 2013 that were related to these topics. Its contents integrate state of the art computational intelligence based techniques for automatic robot control to novel distributed sensing and data integration methodologies that can be applied to intelligent robotics and automation systems. The objective of the text was to provide an overview of some of the problems in the field of robotic systems and intelligent automation and the approaches and techniques that relevant research groups within this area are employing to try to solve them.The contributions of the different authors have been grouped into four main sections:• Robots• Control and Intelligence• Sensing• Collaborative automationThe chapters have been structured to provide an easy to follow introduction to the topics that are addressed, including the most relevant references, so that anyone interested in this field can get started in the area

Optimisation of surface coverage paths used by a non-contact robot painting system

This thesis proposes an efficient path planning technique for a non-contact optical “painting” system that produces surface images by moving a robot mounted laser across objects covered in photographic emulsion. In comparison to traditional 3D planning approaches (e.g. laminar slicing) the proposed algorithm dramatically reduces the overall path length by optimizing (i.e. minimizing) the amounts of movement between robot configurations required to position and orientate the laser. To do this the pixels of the image (i.e. points on the surface of the object) are sequenced using configuration space rather than Cartesian space. This technique extracts data from a CAD model and then calculates the configuration that the five degrees of freedom system needs to assume to expose individual pixels on the surface. The system then uses a closest point analysis on all the major joints to sequence the points and create an efficient path plan for the component. The implementation and testing of the algorithm demonstrates that sequencing points using a configuration based method tends to produce significantly shorter paths than other approaches to the sequencing problem. The path planner was tested with components ranging from simple to complex and the paths generated demonstrated both the versatility and feasibility of the approach