GROUP | 004 Inioluwa Adedapo / Alexander Neumann / Yasmin Tjk / Xinyi Zhang Materialising with Machinic Agency
Group 004 | Concept
Component Based Design Our team made use of component pieces to generate different types of furniture. We went from part to whole as against designing one whole furniture.
Nesting and Waste Management Using our components, it was important to nest our components in order to save space and reduce wastage of the materials.
PART 1 | Modelling for Digital Fabrication
Group 004 | Early Iterations: Mass Explorations
FAILURE | Not Carried Forward
Group 004 | CHAIR: Component Generation
This chair was an adapted iteration of the “Nagami printed 3D chair” by Zaha Hadid Architects. It was created to understand its concept of generation as well as adapt new furniture designs from the components created.
Group 004 | CHAIR: Potential Nesting Strategy in Preparation for HWC
The extra material generated from cutting the chair pieces are combined to create a table piece as seen on the left. thereby ensuring that there is no waste generated
Group 004 | SHELF: Component Generation
The component pieces generated can also be combined to create a curvilinear shelf as seen in the diagram to the right.
Group 004 | Early Iterations: Mass Explorations
FAILURE | Not Carried Forward
Excercise 1: Following the NODE tutorial, this object explored creating depressions and subtractions. Difficult to nest or combine with like pieces.
Excercise 2: Chair made from extrusions and edge detachments. Same issues as object 1; difficult to use as a component piece.
Excercise 3: Using a ‘starfish’ design, this organic form would have indented seating pockets. The doubly-curved surface made this unfeasible.
Excercise 4: A bed made from extrusions and edge detachments.; a variation of object 2. Largely uninteresting and unintelligible as a ‘bed’.
Group 004 | Early Iterations: Arch
FAILURE | Not Carried Forward
FAILURE | Not Carried Forward
Group 004 | THREE-SIDED BENCH: Diagrams & Geometry Setup
SUCCESS | Carried Forward
Group 004 | HYPAR TABLE SUPPORT: Diagrams & Geometry Setup
SUCCESS | Carried Forward
Group 004 | ARROW: First Iteration
‘Arrow’ Component Iteration 1: Plan and Front View One of our first attempts at component generation. This was born from early knowledge and practice with Maya to create a feasible object to be fabricated.
FAILURE | Not Carried Forward
Group 004 | ARROW: Generation Process
Move 1: Square plane was created and subdivided for edge manipulation.
Move 2: Using an attractor point, the centre edges were lifted along the axes.
Move 3: Excess plane was removed.
Move 4: Corner vertices were pulled down.
Move 5: Half of the ‘cross’ was removed and lateral ends were reduced to create planar ends.
Move 6: Surface was smoothed.
Move 7: Object was extruded vertically to give thickness and create planar edges.
Move 8: Hightlighted edges were detached to begin to simplify the object and prepare for future HWC.
Move 9: Final Step The object was made more narrow longitudinally and more edges were detached. This form would prove difficult to cut as-is, and so would eventually be re-iterated upon.
Group 004 | NODE: Potential Combinations
Using the first iteration of the component above, we developed four potential pieces of furniture that could be fabricated, finished off with either other components, or the material remaining after cutting.
Object 1: Round Table [UNUSED]
First iteration components front view
First iteration components plan view
Object 2: Long Table [UNUSED]
Object 3: Book Shelf [SUCCESS]
Object 4: Bench [UNUSED]
Object 2: Long Table [UNUSED] Four components lined up end-to-end and mirrored would provide support for a flat surface laid overtop or between.
Object 3: Book Shelf [SUCCESS] Two components laid tip-to-tip, then each pair arranged side-by-side and stood upright create the frame for a unique bookshelf. We ultimately chose this piece to continue with.
Object 1: Round Table [UNUSED] Five components arranged in a pentagonal shape creates another table piece. This could serve as a coffee or end table, but the components were only loosely attached, and was not a feasible option.
Object 4: Bench [UNUSED] Two components laid tip-to-tip, then mirrored and set lengthwise create an interesting, albeit strange bench. The overall shape wasn’t very clean, and was not progressed.
Group 004 | ARROW: Furniture Combinations
The bookshelf and an alternate table design were conceptualized from the first Arrow component. The shelves and table surface were suggested from leftover or unused material from the HWC process.
Group 004 | ARROW: Early Cutting Setup
Cut 1: The backside of each piece was cut top-to-bottom.
FAILURE | Not Carried Forward
Cut 2: The inside face was cut across all pieces.
Cut 3: The front edge of each piece was cut.
Cut 4: The inside face of each piece was cut. This cut would separate the piece from the block and remove it from the cutting area. This process is repeated for each piece.
Group 004 | ARROW Ver 2: Reiteration Stage
Originating this time from a cube, we re-examined the node and rebuilt it to refine the overall form and reduce how much it would need to be sliced apart to cut. An interesting form resulted from this development stage, but potential cutting issues arose, so it was ultimately refined again.
FAILURE | Not Carried Forward
Group 004 | ARROW Ver 2: Generation Process
Move 1: A base cube was lengthened and edge loops were applied.
Move 2: The front face was lowered and the back face was raised, vertically.
Move 3: The front face extruded inwards to begin to form the ‘nose’.
Move 4: The sides were pulled inward along the front edgee loops to begin to define and recreate the original form.
Move 5: The height/thickness of the object was reduced by half.
Move 6: The object was raised vertically allong the central, longitudinal edge loops.
Move 7: The whole object was shortened to about 2/3 its original size.
Move 8: The ‘nose’ was raised vertically to achieve a new and unique aspect to the original form.
Move 9: Final Step The object was smoothed and excess edges were culled. Ultimately, this iteration was not carried forward. Shown here was an issue where five edges intersected at onw vertice, which would make HWC planning difficult. Instead, this process was applied to the original Arrow iteration process.
Group 004 | ARROW Ver 3: Final Reiteration
SUCCESS | Carried Forward
Group 004 | ARROW Ver 3: Generation Process
Move 1: Square plane was created and subdivided for edge manipulation.
Move 2: Using an attractor point, the centre edges were lifted along the axes.
Move 3: Excess plane was removed.
Move 4: Corner vertices were pulled down.
Move 5: Half of the ‘cross’ was removed and lateral ends were reduced to create planar ends.
Move 6: Surface was smoothed and extruded to give thickness.
Move 7: Edges were reduced and simplified. Certain ones were detached with HWC consideration in mind.
Move 8: At this stage, the Arrow was separated into ‘nose’ and ‘flange’. This was for more feasible cutting.
Move 9: Final Step The object was smoothed again and cutting direction lines were applied. This was the accepted component iteration to be carried forward and used for the remainder of the project.
Group 004 | Combination of Final Component Iterations Here are all our potential furniture pieces combined to create a liesurely sitting space, with a variety of seating option, table surfaces, and shelf storage.
PART 2 | Robotic HWC Process BOOKSHELF
Group 004 | ARROW Nesting Strategies
FAILURE | HWC Issues
Precut Nesting Strategy for Arrow Component 1 [left] One of our more successful attempts at minimizing waste material, but the approach to slicing up the component to achieve viable HWC was not overly efficient. This nesting strategy was scrapped after the component was revised.
Precut Nesting Strategy 1 for Arrow Component Ver 3 [below] We tried various strategies to nest the pieces for the bookshelf together as seen in the phases above. In trying to minimize waste, however, we found that nesting both halves of the Arrow too closely would result in many potential HWC issues, such as slicing through material needed for one half while cutting the other pieces.
Group 004 | ARROW: Precut Preparation
SUCCESS | Ready for Cutting
Precut Nesting Strategy 2 for Arrow Component Ver 3 [SUCCESS] We attempted closer nesting for our component pieces, and found they took up much less space in the foam cube than assumed. Overall, this was our best strategy, and if needed, would provide a good amount of extra material if needed.
Group 004 | Robot Cut Path Explanation Diagram
Group 004 | ARROW Final Iteration ‘Nose’ Cut: HWC Robot Errors and Solutions
ERROR 1: Robot arm was colliding with support block due to object orientation.
FIX 1: Object was reoriented for cutting.
ERROR 2: Robot arm would lift through the objects after completing a cut.
FIX 2: Altering the direction of the cut, combining or reducing total number of cuts, and reordering cuts seemed to work.
ERROR 3: All cuts were completed successfully, however upon completion of cuts, foam objects were returned melted and rough. Possibly due to the retrace commands. , or thickness of the objects themselves. No solution presented currently.
FIX 3: Removing Retrace commands, increasing the thickness of each piece, and providing more space between them, the cut was a success.
Group 004 | ARROW ‘Nose’ First Cut: Fabrication Images
While the HWC process was successful, the foam objects were returned melted and rough. This is most likely due to Retrace commands, or the thickness of the objects themselves.
FAILURE | Melted Pieces
Group 004 | ARROW ‘Flange’ First Cut: Fabrication Images
While the HWC process was successful, the foam objects were returned torn and rough. This portion was more successful than the ‘nose’. However, nose and flange pieces did not seem to fit together properly.
FAILURE | Breakage and Tearing
Group 004 | ARROW ‘Nose’ Recut Path
MOVE 1: Cut across material cube
MOVE 2: Switchback curve cuts
MOVE 3: Across sides and top
Group 004 | ARROW ‘Flange’ Recut Path
Group 004 | ARROW Recut
After recutting, both portions of the component were cut successfully, and had a better fit as well. Some parts are still a bit off, but this was an overall success and great improvement over the first cut attempt.
SUCCESS | Cut Properly
PART 2 | Robotic HWC Process BENCH and TABLE
Group 004 | THREE SIDED BENCH AND HYPAR TABLE SUPPORT: Exploration Fabrication - Component Nesting
Distance from the sides of the stock to make the cut isolated from the imperfecAtion in the stock.
Seatback components
SUCCESS | Ready for Cutting
Seatback component fliped after robot error was detected during the cut simulation.
Seatback components Seat components Hypar Table components
Seat components
Three-sided bench
Three-sided bench and Hypar table
Group 004 | THREE-SIDED BENCH: Hot-wire Cutting Simulation
Group 004 | THREE-SIDED BENCH: Hot-wire Cutting Simulation
54 3 21 1 3 Boundary Cut
Arch Cut
2 4
Group 004 | THREE-SIDED BENCH: Physical Model
SUCCESS | Cut Properly
Group 004 | HYPAR TABLE SUPPORT: Hot-wire Cutting Simulation
4 321 1 3
Boundary Cut
Arch Cut
2 4
Group 004 | HYPAR TABLE SUPPORT: Physical Model
SUCCESS | Cut Properly
PART 3 | Ornamentation and 3D Printing
Group 004 | Scanning and Ornamentation: Point Cloud Generation
Point cloud in 3D
SUCCESS | Good-Quality Scan
Culled points
Rotated
Copied and Mirrored
The component was scanned using the Kinect scanner and the background was removed. After this the component point were extracted and culled. Then finally it was digitally built to create the shelf component. copied in Z direction
Final piece
Group 004 | Comparison of Point Cloud to Actual Furniture
Far from to scan
Close to scan
Group 004 | Ornamentation
Shelf
Pipe command around polyline
Points extracted for polyline
Distorted pipes removed
The first ornament was generated using the srting by points method to obtain points and extract polylines which were then piped to create a pattern.
Ornamentation polyline
Group 004 | Ornamentation
Points for triangular grid
Triangular grid polylines
Baked ‘planes’ also created an ornament effect
The second ornament option for the shelf was generated using triangular grid to form an intricate pattern on the shelf
Triangular grid extruded using “pipe”
Sample portion of ornament
Group 004 | BOOKSHELF 3D Printing
SUCCESS | Simulation Completed
The point cloud was entered into the Grasshopper script, and was rotated and aligned to sit properly on the support object and block.
The point cloud needed to be adjusted to be aligned with the tool. Marginal x and y plane adjustments were all that was required.
Once aligned, the 3D print simulation was an overall success. The script used the default linear pipe path for testing.
SUCCESS | Good-Quality Scan
SUCCESS | Simulation Completed
END | Thank You Inioluwa Adedapo / Alexander Neumann / Yasmin Tjk / Xinyi Zhang Materialising with Machinic Agency