First Steps for the Liverpool School of Architectures new Robotic Arm
Witness the inaugural first steps of the UR10 robotic arm! A cross departmental collaboration to create a robotic arm research facility with the ultimate goal of creating 3D printed freeform structures in concrete, but before that happens there are few things left to do…
It has been a long road since the initial procurement over a year ago but the UR10, a ‘collaborative robot’ from Universal Robots is now physically installed in the research facility. Currently semi-operational, it is undergoing initial testing of its component parts, systems and functionality. The technical team in charge have already completed several aspects of the implementation plan and they are looking forward to being able to sign-off on the facility sometime in Q1 2020.
Initially, once fully operational and handed over to the academic project owners, the resource will be utilised within the curriculum of the MA in Architecture, the MSc in BIM and Digital Design and our PGR team, to explore robotic fabrication in various aspects.
We will operate the UR10 robotic arm using Rhinoceros and ‘Grasshopper which will enable the input design parameters created within the software environment to be converted into command and control data, this data when outputted directly to the UR10 control interface, will then be translated into the physical model.
If that all sounds complex, that’s because it is! Fortunately, once set up, all this will be handled internally and in order to utilise this resource, the user will only need to understand some basic hardware functionality and of course input their design parameters!
We’re all really looking forward to seeing what comes out of this facility in the future!