Lecture Series "Speak Robot"

Online Lecture Series of the TT-Professorship of Digital Fabrication

Starting in the spring semester of 2021, we have launched an online lecture series with invited guest speakers, accompanying our design studio. Our guests are invited to provide insights into their research around construction robotics and architecture, and to engage into critical reflections and discussions together with our studentsThe lecture series is open to anyone interested in our research. Lectures are given in English. 

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June 22nd, 2 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.

"Shotcrete 3d Printing"
by Norman Hack, Junior Professor for Digital Building Construction, TU Braunschweig

"For over 100 years, shotcrete has been used to spray reinforcement and produce lightweight and efficient structures. This technology is supposed to be transferred with the help of a robot into a digital, formwork-free and automated fabrication process. The developed robot-controlled process is called "Shotcrete 3D printing (SC3DP)."

Norman Hack is an architect and a researcher in the field of digital fabrication. He holds a Master's degree in architecture from Technical University Vienna and the Architectural Association in London. After working as a programming architect in the Digital Technologies Group at Herzog and de Meuron, he persued a doctorate with Gramazio Kohler Research at ETH Zurich as part of the NCCR Digital Fabrication. Since 2018, Norman holds a Tenure Track Professorship for Digital Building Fabrication at the Institute of Structural Design at Technische Universität Braunschweig.

"Adaptive Robotic Assembly"
by Ryan Luke Johns, PhD, Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zürich

"This talk will give insights on my recent work on assembly with nonstandard materials, including large scale mobile robotic construction with stone and concrete rubble."

Ryan Luke Johns is an architectural designer focused on augmented materiality and context-aware fabrication. He has taught as a lecturer in the Princeton University School of Architecture, the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute School of Architecture, the Vassar College Department of Cognitive Science, and as an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia GSAPP.  He is co-founder of GREYSHED, a design-research studio focused on advanced workflows and robotics in architecture, design, and manufacturing. Ryan holds a Master of Architecture from Princeton University (2013), and is currently a doctoral researcher in the Gramazio and Kohler Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication, ETH Zürich.

June 1st, 3 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

"Designing [with] Machines"
by Maria Yablonina, Assistant Professor, University of Toronto

"Today the discourse of digital fabrication in the context of architectural research is dominated by the image of an industrial robot arm performing complex movements to produce complex geometry. But what happens when we move beyond appropriation of available hardware towards architecture-specific machines and devices? Envisioning an entire ecology of machine species designed specifically to manipulate material at an architectural scale opens up a conversation about the role of robotic creatures in architecture beyond construction."

Maria Yablonina is an architect, researcher, and artist working in the field of computational design and digital fabrication. Her work lies at the intersection of architecture and robotics, producing spaces and robotic systems that can construct themselves and change in real-time. Such architectural productions include the development of hardware and software solutions, as well as complementing architectural and material systems in order to offer new design spaces.

"Adaptive Thin Layer Printing On-Site - The Digital Craft of Robotic Plaster Spraying"
by Selen Ercan Jenny, PhD, Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zürich


"Robotic plaster spraying aims to contribute to the field of additive manufacturing and explore the surfaces of architectural spaces, enhancing the bespoke design potential of plaster with a new digital craft. The goals address an on-site construction system that is capable of performing continuous robotic plaster spraying on building elements, without the need for additional formwork or tools used in conventional plastering to produce textural patterns and volumetric formations."

Selen Ercan Jenny is a trained architect and a digital fabrication researcher, focused on applying mobile robots for in-situ construction. Since June 2018, she is a PhD researcher at the Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication at ETH Zurich, as part of the interdisciplinary construction robotics team, with a focus on “Robotic Plaster Spraying: Crafting Surfaces with Adaptive Thin Layer Printing through Continuous Mobile Fabrication”.

April 14, 1 p.m. - 2.30 p.m.

"Construction Robotics and AI in the Wild"
by Stuart Maggs, CEO, Scaled Robotics

"Construction shapes the world around us, having an impact on our lives like no other sector. It is also a highly complex manufacturing industry where innovation is famously resistant to change. This talk will focus on the excitement of pragmatically taking technology from academia to the wild."

Stuart Maggs is CEO and Co-Founder of Scaled Robotics, leveraging computer vision, machine learning, and robotics to automate progress monitoring and quality control for construction. Stuart has a background in architecture and design, working in both academia and industry.

"Role of Material Development in Additive Manufacturing"
by Carla Matthäus, cbm TUM

"Additive manufacturing is set to become a disruptive technology in construction. Concrete as a building material which goes naturally from a fluid to a solid state gives great flexibility in terms of material handling and placing. Nevertheless, the requirements for the material are very high to be able to guarantee freedom of design. This talk will address a few concepts of the material development for this interdisciplinary field."

Carla Matthäus is a research associate at the Chair of Materials Science and Testing at TUM and since end of 2020 head of the project group Additive Manufacturing. She is particularly working in the material development for extrusion of lightweight concrete. Carla has a background in civil engineering and economics.