Materializing Machines

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Materializing Machines Team One: Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Instructors: Alicia Nahmad-Vazquez, Federico Borello 1

TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Brief In this workshop we followed a process of designing ruled surfaces through utilising progressive modeling techniques. The outcome of our design is a ruled surface chair and other pieces of furniture which is fabricated using the hot wire cutter robot through planning cut paths and using computational scripting.

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Ruled Surface The furniture is designed within the ruled surface logic. A ruled surface is a surface that is contained between two lines that has a set of points swept by a moving straight line. The diagram shows examples of the ruled surface geometries: D0 and C0 are connected in straight line by r0 thus confirming that it is a ruled surface.

The first and final point of the ruled surface follows the path in order to create the surfaces. In the end, every point on the surface lies on a straight line. The method of all the operation stacks we design starts with different actions from the primitive geometries, exploring various possibilities in the design process.

By Ag2gaeh - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=72071802

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Ruled surfaces play a major role in architecture and civil engineering like in the works of Oscar Niemeyer. A good reason for using ruled surfaces is that they can be generated quite easily by moving a straight line and working with these constraints has allowed architects to widen the plays of geometry in our built environment.

Today, this fact leads to strategies of fabrication for many architectural projects such as the UN STUDIO’s Gyroi project in utilising hotwire cutting of formwork in carving ruled surfaces creating varying curvature of geometries.

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

DESIGN & MAKE rules surface exercise and iterations

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Iteration Process Diagram

V0-V1_shape optimization issue chair cannot be stacked while not in use

V2-V3_thickness altertion solution

adjust polygon for fanout profile

issue thickness too thin for production and structural requirment

V4-V5_geometry optimization solution

increace thinkness in edge/face extrusion process

issue extreme change of angles in cutting surface pushes robot arm out of comfort

solution

adjust the relative degree of faces in lowpoly stage to achieve a smoother geometry

V0 V1 V2 V3 V4

issue seating component missing

V5

solution

seating component development under same operation stack

V6

issue geometry leads to hotwire pivoting while generating cutting path in grasshopper

solution

introduce bevel vertices/edges to low polygon stage to optimize

V1-V2_seating development

issue structural relation of the base and the chair frames is wrong

solution

intergrated the base and the seating component to give structural integrity

V3-V4_polygon optimization V5-V6_structural optimization

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Iteration Process V0-V1

stacking properties improvement

V0

In this iteration we explored possibilities of chairs geometry angle in order to having better nesting abilities during production and better stakable properties for use.

V1

critical step

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Iteration Process V1-V2

seating component development under same operation stack

V1

In this iteration we explored different options of creating seating element with the same operation stack.

V2

critical step

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Iteration Process V2-V3

Foam is a very flimsy material that bends easily and cannot support weight unless dense. Due to its structural properties we had to make the profile of our chair thicker.

Additionally, we had to accommodate for the robotic hotwire cutters tolerances. Even though the wire itself is thin, it cuts its surrounding area through heat, not contact. The thickness and consistency of the kerf depends on the cutting speed and wire temperature. The slower the movement is, the more inconsistent and thicker the kerf is, as it leads to melting the cut path more than needed. If the robot is slower in certain areas because it takes time to change angles and calculate movements, the foam in that area keeps getting melted away. This leads to an inconsistent kerf thickness. Another characteristic of the hot wire cutter we had to accommodate for is the fact that the wire is not always completely straight and sometimes is bowed, thus reducing the accuracy. Structural property of foam, tolerances of hotwire & robot movement, and properties of the wire led us to making it thicker.

thickness alteration based upon fabrication limits and structural abilities Considering the materiality of foam, thickness is too thin for fabrication.

V2

V3

critical step

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Iteration Process V3-V4

At the intersecting point of the ruling surfaces, the robot would have to pivot to continue cutting due to the change in direction from horizontal to vertical. Grasshopper failed at analyzing the robots cutting path due to pivoting points.

To aid robot comfort and allow for a smoother change in direction, we iterated the ruling lines. This prevented intersecting of ruling lines and thus avoided the need for a pivot to take place. It allowed for a larger transitional area.

polygon optimization

V3

Through a process of grasshopper scripting, we found the original ploygon surface is creating a pivot in the cutting path, causing a failed script.

V4

For a more diverse geometry control, extrude faces to volume is introduced to the operation stack in a lower polygon stage. before

after

critical step

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Detaching Scheme Because of the chair’s curved geometry, we conceived a detachment scheme that allows a comfortable access for the robot hot-wire cutter. Keeping the chair in its full geomtery would not have been possible in the process of prototyping because of its complexity.

In order to minimizie directional changes along the geomtetry and in order to avoid the hot-wire cutter tool hitting the foam we conceived a detachment scheme.

The scheme cuts the main parts of the chair in two, along the symmetry axis, creating simpler chair parts. Each part was then transalted into svereal cutting paths.

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Iteration Process V4-V5

The drastic change of curvature and thus angle of ruling lines was creating problems in the grasshopper simulation.

It wasn’t smooth enough and we were finding it difficult to find an appropriate home position for the robot and for the foam box. The robot would always clash with itself or one of the axis would always go out of permitted range when simulating the cutting where the transitional area from horizontal to vertical was small.

Additionally, we feared that these areas of transition would cause problems like inconsistency of kerf thickness and breaking of wire as the robot tried to execute drastic changes of angle in small amounts of time and small transitional area. Thus we iterated the geometry to make fabrication easier and more consistent for a better surface finish.

geometry optimization

V4

After grasshopper simulation and trials of hotwire cutting, we learned that extream turns of angle and face axises tends to push robot out of comfort and lead to more errors.

before

V5

after

critical step

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Path Planning Constraints and Robot Comfort- hotwire cutting through object / Knocking off foam box Here the robot in its original home position and it moves through the foam box while trying to orientate itself to access the cut.

This was avoided by changing the starting home position of the robot.

ERROR OCCURRED Hotwire cutter is cutting through object / knocking off foam box

Robot movement visualization

TROUBLESHOOT Home Position is changed

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Path Planning Constraints and Robot Comfort - robot arm clashing with itself Here, while the robot is able to access the part to cut, it clashes with itself in its bridge area and seems uncomfortable. The size of the cut and its varying degrees of curvature demand more space for flexibility of robot movement and this is done by changing the position of the foam box and placing it at a lower position.

ERROR OCCURRED Robot arm clashing with itself

Robot movement visualization

TROUBLESHOOT Position of foam box changed

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Path Planning Constraints and Robot Comfort - robot arm clashing with itself and its surroundings In this next example, you can see the robot clashing with the turn table when approaching the cut from its home position. When approached from the other side, it clashes with itself in the bracket region. It also causes axis 2 of the robot to go out of its permitted range. Thus the home position and position of the foam box have been changed.

ERROR OCCURRED Robot arm clashing with itself and its surrounding

Robot movement visualization

TROUBLESHOOT Home position and position of foam box are changed

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Simulation Diagram

Cut Video - https://vimeo.com/474557287

Cut Video https://vimeo.com/474557287

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

V5 Operation Stack

1.

1.

2.

2.

3.

3.

4.

4.

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6.

5.

6.

7.

7.

8.

8.

1. primitive cube 2. insert loop edges 3. delete faces / vertices 4. move edges / vertices 5. extrude faces 6. detach edges 7. convert smooth preview to ploygons 8. delete unwanted edges

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Final Foam Model

Render of prototyped chair

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Possible Future Iteration V6 We also developed a future possible iteration which is more structurally feasible, with the consideration of the forces reacting on a chair and intergrating a base at the bottom. and also more details of beveling and variation of thickness is introduced in this design.

geometry optimization base intergrated to avoid legs spreading outwards

V6

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Detaching Scheme An alternative detachment seperates the seating part to 3 piece in order to maintain structural integrity and also more manageable in hotwire cutting.

This scheme combines the base with the seat frame and allows its integration within the chair’s geometry, contributing to its function as a stregthening link.

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Iteration Matrix V0-V6

V0 V1 V2 V3

V4

V5

V6

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Design Matrix variations

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Design Matrix

bed

table

table

bench

bench

chair

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chair

chair

chair

TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Variation 1

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Variation 2

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Variation 3

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Variation 4

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Variation 5

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Variation 6

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

V5 Operation Stack

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

V5 Operation Stack

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Variation 7

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

Variation 8

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang

Workshop 1 - “Materializing Machines” | 30.10.2020

V5 Operation Stack

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TEAM 1 - Amin Yassin, Chhavi Mehta, Cheolyoung Park, Pin-ju Wang