Tag: architectural-robotics | ArchDaily

Facing the Age of Robots? Material Innovation in Architectural Structures

Agustina Iñiguez — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 07:30:00 +0000

By exploring the art of robotics in construction, advances in architectural technologies are increasingly shaping multiple aspects of human life. From robotic arms and drones to robots that move across large surfaces and even 3D printing robots, their use in construction is accelerating research and the development of new working methods, as well as structural and material experimentation. In collaboration with multiple disciplines and spanning various facets of architecture, the role of robots in the contemporary landscape demonstrates a potential that extends beyond merely automating processes or reducing construction times and costs. This raises the question: Are we building architecture to serve technology, or technology to serve architecture?

Historic Materials in the Digital Age: How Digitally Assisted Stone Carving Adds a New Dimension to Heritage Restoration

Moises Carrasco — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 04:00:00 +0000

Heritage restoration has always been an intricate process that requires delicate balancing between preserving the integrity of historic materials while integrating contemporary techniques that can enhance accuracy, efficiency, and resilience. With the restoration process of Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada's capital city, this intersection of tradition and technology is now on full display. The East Block, built in 1865, offers a compelling example of how digital tools can support the efforts of heritage restoration and contribute to a centuries-old craft such as stone carving.

Rethinking Cities' Relationships with Nature: Robotic Urban Farmers

Alexandre Dubor and Cristian Rizzuti — Thu, 22 Dec 2022 02:30:00 +0000

In our current context of ecological crisis, global warming, biodiversity loss, human population growth, and urban sprawl, we need to rethink the way we build and live in our city. We have observed the consequence of uncontrolled urban planning and construction driven only by a capitalist and productivist vision of the city, packing as many humans as possible in the cheapest constructions available, without consideration for the impact on our planet, our fellow animals & plants inhabitants, and our own wellbeing. The concrete jungles we have been building for the past century have proven to be disrupting our climate (Global Warming, Local heat island effect), our ecosystems (loss of biodiversity, and recess of animals & plants population), and our economy (the food and product industry have been displaced far away, replaced by the only service industry, and the generation of the huge amount of waste in the city).

An Artificial Intelligence Bot Picks The Architecture Trends of 2023

Nicolás Valencia — Wed, 21 Dec 2022 08:00:00 +0000

2022 could be remembered as the year when surprising AI-fueled tools became accessible to a larger audience: from text-to-image generation Stable Diffusion, Midjourney, and DALL-E 2 to unsettling design experiments such as This House Does Not Exist, to surprisingly smart OpenGPT, a language-processing designed artificial intelligence to generate human-like text.

Bjarke Ingels Group and The Metals Company Design Next-Generation Robotic Mineral Collecting Facility

Dima Stouhi — Wed, 19 May 2021 06:30:00 +0000

Award-winning architecture firm Bjarke Ingels Group has collaborated with lower-impact battery metals developer The Metals Company to reimagine a traditional metal production facility in a new contemporary and sustainable context. The firm designed a circular zero-solid-waste metallurgical plant that includes manufacturing, processing, and storage facilities, along with offices, visitor centers, and innovation facilities.

Project Galath3a: a Woman-Machine Collaboration at the Berlin Open Lab

Christele Harrouk — Tue, 16 Mar 2021 06:30:00 +0000

Exploring the use of innovative technologies in architecture and practicing at the crossroads between art and spatial design, Gili Ron and Irina Bogdan have imagined project Galath3a, a woman-machine collaboration. The research-based venture uses a UR5 robotic arm named Gala (short for Galatea), to speculate on what is culturally considered as "womanly behavior".

The New Boston Dynamics' Spot 1.1 Revolutionizes the Construction Industry

Design:ED — Mon, 20 Jan 2020 11:00:00 +0000

Design:ED Podcast is an inside look into the field of architecture told from the perspective of individuals that are leading the industry. This motivational series grants unique insight into the making of a successful design career, from humble beginnings to worldwide recognition. Every week, featured guests share their personal highs and lows on their journey to success, that is sure to inspire audiences at all levels of the industry. Listening to their stories will provide a rare blueprint for anyone seeking to advance their career, and elevate their work to the next level.

Robots will Construct Melike Altınışık' Robot Museum in Seoul

Niall Patrick Walsh — Tue, 19 Feb 2019 09:00:00 +0000

Turkish practice Melike Altınışık Architects (MAA) has won an international competition for the design of a Robot Science Museum in Seoul, South Korea. Hosted by the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the competition called for a “world first” museum to support public education in robotics, and increase public interest in robots.

From Digital to Built: Six Experimentations With Brick

José Tomás Franco — Mon, 18 Feb 2019 16:30:00 +0000

Argentine firm Estudio Arzubialde and Chilean architect Verónica Arcos led a Material Experimentation Workshop in Rosario, Argentina, during which six different groups of students designed and built projects using a variety of brick laying techniques.

Aarhus School of Architecture's Revolutionary Robotic Formwork Method Cuts Concrete Use by 70%

Niall Patrick Walsh — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 09:00:00 +0000

The Aarhus School of Architecture working with Asbjørn Søndergaard of Odico Formwork Robotics, has unveiled a high-performance structure deployed using a revolutionary robotic manufacturing method. “Experiment R” seeks to disrupt current concrete manufacturing by cutting the cost of concrete formwork production by 50%.

MIT Team Working with Neri Oxman Design "Fiberbots" to Respond Quickly to Natural Disaster

Eric Baldwin — Thu, 11 Oct 2018 13:00:00 +0000

The MIT-based Mediated Matter Group have created Fiberbots, an autonomous digital fabrication platform designed to quickly build architecture during disaster. By utilizing cooperative robotic manufacturing, Fiberbots can create highly sophisticated material structures. The small robots work as a group to wind fiberglass filament and create high-strength tubular structures. MIT researchers envision the bots building in extreme environments and natural disaster zones.

Japanese Robot Capable of Installing Drywall by Itself

Eric Baldwin — Thu, 04 Oct 2018 13:00:00 +0000

Japan’s Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Institute have created HRP-5P, a humanoid robot that can perform common construction tasks, including installing drywall. As TechCrunch reports, HRP-5P uses environmental measurement, object detection and motion planning to perform various tasks. The robot may help in Japan's rapidly aging society where declining birth rates meets a lack of skilled construction workers.

Robotics Start-up Proposes Smart, Motorized Ceiling Furniture

Niall Patrick Walsh — Fri, 28 Sep 2018 13:35:00 +0000

“Architects don’t even look at it as an opportunity to put any living experience there…we can open that up” muses Sankarshan Murthy, former Tesla and Apple Watch engineer.

Carlo Ratti Associati's Proposed Milan Science Campus Features Robotically-Assembled Brick Facades

Niall Patrick Walsh — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Carlo Ratti Associati has released details of their schematic design for the University of Milan’s new science campus, featuring robotically-assembled brick facades, porous communal areas, and natural oases. Working in collaboration with Australian real estate group Lendlease, the “Science for Citizens” proposal will sit within a new Milan Innovation District, located on the site of Milan’s 2015 World Expo.

Carlo Ratti's Writing Robot Transforms Your Wall into an Artistic Canvas

Niall Patrick Walsh — Fri, 06 Apr 2018 12:00:00 +0000

Carlo Ratti Associati (CRA) has unveiled Scribit, a “writing robot” which draws images and text on any wall surface, turning office, living, and bathroom walls into a blank canvas for artistic expression. Using in-built engines, Scribit can draw, cancel, and re-draw new content an infinite number of times, allowing users to print different images, messages, or feeds every day.

New Construction Robot Lays Bricks 3 Times as Fast as Human Workers

Eric Oh — Thu, 07 Jan 2016 08:00:00 +0000

A new construction worker has been lending high-efficiency help to job sites, laying bricks at almost three times the speed of a human worker. SAM (short for Semi-Automated Mason) is a robotic bricklayer that handles the repetitive tasks of basic brick laying, MIT Technology Review reports. While SAM handles picking up bricks, applying mortar and placing them at designated locations, its human partner handles worksite setup, laying bricks in specific areas (e.g. corners) and improving the aesthetic quality of the masonry.

Self-Aware Nanobots Form Futurist Megastructures in this Thesis Project from the AA

Dario Goodwin — Sun, 16 Aug 2015 09:30:00 +0000

Architecture is a swarm, and a self aware one at that. That's the vision presented by noMad: a built environment made of Buckminster Fuller-like geometric structures that compile themselves entirely autonomously, according to data gathered and processed by the units. Developed by Architectural Association students Dmytro Aranchii, Paul Bart, Yuqiu Jiang, and Flavia Santos, on a basic level noMad's concept is fairly simple - a small unit of motors that is attached to several magnetic faces, which can be reoriented into different shapes. Put multiple units together, however, and noMad's vision becomes an entirely new form of architecture: non-finite, mobile and infinitely adaptable.

Digitized Stone: ZAarchitects Develop “Smart Masonry”

Evan Rawn — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 09:30:23 +0000

When one hears the term masonry architecture, digital fabrication and automated construction processes are probably not the first ideas to come to mind. By its very nature, the architecture produced with stone masonry is often heavy, massive, and incorporates less natural light than alternative methods. However, with their research proposal for "Smart Masonry," ZAarchitects are proposing to change masonry buildings as we know them and open opportunities for digital fabrication techniques in stone and other previously antiquated materials. Read on after the break to get a glimpse of what these new masonry buildings could look like and learn more about the process behind their construction.