Robots that Build: The Extensions of Man

As many other sectors in society, in the past few decades, construction and building technology have experienced a continuous trend towards digitalization and automation. However, beyond its initial utilitarian intentions, robotic use in architecture is providing an opportunity to reexamine, evaluate, and reconsider the issues of manufacturing, fabrication, control and particularly craft, effectively redefining craftsmanship and the notion of the master builder within architecture. From additive manufacturing with clay to robotic winding with fibers, to the robotic fabrication of fabric formwork for concrete casting, all of these manufacturing processes demand as a prerequisite an understanding of the materials and manual experimentation with them, invoking similarities and overlaps between the underlying processes and strategies of the mind, the hand, the machine, and, most importantly, the material.

As it brings together the work of several of the most advanced and innovative research groups exploring the boundaries of robotic-craft fabrication, Robots that Build questions issues of cultural specificity, cultural significance, and socio-cultural relevance of robotic fabrication in architecture, design and construction, effectively examining the current state and correlation between robotic fabrication and what is conventionally understood as craft.