Collaborative workshop brings Engineering and Architecture students together for computational design and digital fabrication of timber systems
Robot Made is an innovative hands-on project combining research and active learning to involve both Engineering and Architecture students, at undergraduate and graduate levels, in the process of computational design and digital fabrication. This unique initiative's 2024 iteration focused on exploring techniques for designing, simulating, and digitally fabricating timber systems.
The course kicked off with classroom sessions - workshops, where participants delved into advanced wood design, robotic kinematics and systems, exploring digital workflows and engineering tools like parametric robot control (PRC) and COMPAS_FEA. The course then shifted into high gear as students moved to their computers, crafting custom designs through scripting and hands-on modelling.
The real excitement unfolded when digital met physical — students stepped into the Kuka robotic cell, driving industrial robots to fabricate their creations. In the final days, the digitally crafted design came to life in a thrilling build, as the class collaboratively assembled a full-scale structure, experiencing the transformative power of digital fabrication and automation.
The Design Build course was designed by Nicholas Steven Hoban from John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto; Professor AnnaLisa Meyboom from School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture at the University of British Columbia; and Professor Aryan Rezaei Rad from the Department of Civil & Mineral Engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering at the University of Toronto.
Robot Made 2024 culminated in the installation of a pavilion at the University of Toronto, showcasing the collaborative efforts of the participants. This experience was particularly valuable as it brought the design-to-fabrication process, typically confined to industrial settings, into an academic environment. Through this Design Build course, students were able to explore cutting-edge applications in timber construction while developing advanced skills in design and assembly techniques.
Robot Made marked the first time students from both the Engineering and Architecture faculties at the University of Toronto collaborated to innovate in material usage, pushing the boundaries of construction methodologies. The resulting experimental structure exemplifies the potential of combining Design for Assembly principles with high-precision robotic fabrication and engineering-integrated computational design.
Robot Made forms part of a broader investigation into wood and mass timber construction, encompassing design for manufacturing and assembly (DFMA), as well as the development of open-source digital frameworks. These frameworks integrate simulation-based engineering science and timber engineering, considering the role of integrated data workflows and digital fabrication technologies in shaping the future of building with wood-based products.