Rule-Based Automation for Combining Design and Robotic Fabrication: A Case Study on Acoustic Evaluation of Building Facades Using Robotically Milled Physical Models

Abstract

Parametric control of industrial robots within computer-aided design (CAD) tools has extended the advantages of robotic fabrication in creative fields like arts, architecture and design. However, working with industrial robots requires a meticulous process to be handled by a domain expert(s) from design to fabrication. This process mainly includes steps of multiple tests to identify machine and material constraints, assessing the complexity of the design, and determining the most efficient and feasible path planning. Although domain experts accumulate critical fabrication knowledge and experience over time, they still need to follow these steps for each custom process that takes significant time and effort. As a result, integration of robots into custom fabrication processes becomes impractical. To address these impracticalities, we investigate how some of the pre-fabrication steps can be automated. This paper presents a rule-based framework that formalises domain knowledge by encoding the relationships between design and fabrication parameters. We tested our approach in a specific evaluation case of urban acoustics. Our results demonstrate a semi-automated milling path planning processes based on three different milling strategies and their combinations. This paper contributes to easy and flexible integration of industrial robots into custom and non-standard manufacturing processes, bridging the gap between automation technologies and user-centric design.

Keywords: Industrial Robots, Automated Manufacturing, Computational Fabrication, Urban Acoustics, Rule-Based Models