
Lauren VaseyETH Zurich | ETH Zürich
Lauren Vasey
Dr. Ing | M. Arch | B.S. Eng
Adaptive and circular robotic construction
About
37
Publications
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Introduction
Lauren Vasey is an SNSF Bridge fellow at the ETH Zurich, working on commercializing a new type of robotic printing. Her research interests include:
co-design processes for robotic systems, hardware, and new building systems;
sensor integrated, networked, and adaptive robotic building processes;
AR, web and other interface technologies for fabrication processes;
multi-robot and and human-robot collaborative processes; and
robotic additive manufacturing with alternative materials.
Additional affiliations
January 2020 - March 2024
July 2014 - May 2019
Publications
Publications (37)
In this paper, we present a set of enabling technologies developed for the KUKA Innovation Award to facilitate Human Robot collaboration targeted for the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector. Critically, little progress has been made in the usability of user interfaces for industrial robots [1]. We targeted our investigation expl...
This paper presents strategies for the scalable fabrication of long-span composite structures made possible through physically distributed heterogeneous multi-robot collaboration. An interactive and collaborative fiber laying process between industrial robots and an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is described as a case study, investigating the chall...
In situ robotic construction is a type of construction where mobile robotic systems build directly on the building site. To enable on-site navigation, industrial robots can be integrated with mobile bases, while mobile, high-payload construction machines can be adapted for autonomous operation. With parallel advances in sensor processing, these rob...
The study aims to identify and develop promising fabrication methodologies for a fibre based in‐situ robotic fabrication process for potential application in a lunar habitat as an alternative to existing concepts which utilize additive manufacturing technologies. The larger study framework is composed of two parts. The first part of the study is lo...
In recent years, there has been increased interest in automating earth-based construction methods, yet robust solutions remain limited due to the inherent malleability of earth materials. This paper proposes embedding timber elements into freeform walls created through rapid deposition additive manufacturing (AM) techniques, enabling integrated fun...
This paper compares conventional earth construction with innovative additive techniques. The goal is to assess the sustainability of employing digital fabrication in earth construction, with a particular emphasis on analyzing the Global Warming Potential. The research also investigates how printing speed and resolution impact environmental outcomes...
Automated building processes that enable efficient in situ resource utilization can facilitate construction in remote locations while simultaneously offering a carbon-reducing alternative to commonplace building practices. Toward these ends, we present a robotic construction pipeline that is capable of planning and building freeform stone walls and...
This paper compares conventional earth construction techniques (rammed earth and cob) with additive manufacturing techniques, specifically 3D printing (3DP) with earth. The goal is to analyze the degree to which using 3DP to build with earth is still considered "sustainable," based on the analysis of global warming potential (GWP), and how paramete...
The interest in advanced robotic equipment in construction has increased in recent years. However, actual industry adoption lags behind—and fundamental considerations might be at fault. To date, little scholarship in Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) addresses the stakeholder perception of construction robot design. Therefore, we ask...
Most augmented and virtual applications in architecture, engineering, and construction focus on structured and predictable manual activities and routine cases of information exchange such as quality assurance or design review systems. However, collaborative design activities such as negotiation, task specification, and interaction are not yet suffi...
This paper describes the 1:1 scale application of Robotic Plaster Spraying ( RPS ), a novel, adaptive thin-layer printing technique, using cementitious base coat plaster, realized in a construction setting. In this technique, the print layers are vertical unlike most 3DCP processes. The goal is to explore the applicability and scalability of this s...
This paper presents Interactive Robotic Plastering (IRoP), a system enabling designers and skilled workers to engage intuitively with an in-situ robotic plastering process. The research combines three elements: interactive design tools, an augmented reality interface, and a robotic spraying system. Plastering is a complex process relying on tacit k...
Adaptive shading devices are of special interest in the context of global need for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. To reduce mechanical complexity of kinetic architectural applications, the investigation of bio-inspired compliant mechanisms has proven to be a promising approach.
Thus, a coherent integrative design framework for bio-inspired kine...
The prevalence of ubiquitous computing offers new territories for engagement within design and technology.As the world’s resources decline and conditions of scarcity and inequality define many communities, the roleof architectural design must shift towards amplifying impact. Investments in technological innovation havehistorically been used to augm...
Interconnected devices, online robotic control, and sensor feedback can enable the development of cyber-physical systems within robotic production pro- cesses for architecture and construction. Within the context of architecture and construction, cyber-physical systems present enormous potentials, enabling a reconsideration of typical fragmentation...
A cyber-physical system is a tight coupling of physical processes, sensors, and back-end computational processes. Cyber-physical systems present enormous potentials in architecture and construction, enabling a reconsideration of the highly fragmented nature of typical production chains through increased possibilities for digital integration and col...
This paper investigates an interactive and adaptive control system for kinetic architectural applications with a distributed sensing and actuation network to control modular fiber-reinforced composite components. The aim of the project was to control the actuation of a foldable lightweight structure to generate programmatic changes. A server parses...
This paper investigates the use of robotics with sensing mechanisms in combination with industrial sewing techniques to explore new strategies for the fabrication of thin wooden shells.
Autonomy, agency, and indeterminacy indicate systemic abilities for goal setting and operational strategy—concepts closely associated not only with the performative aspects of architectural interventions but also with the nature of the techniques and tools that produce them. These terms might imply an enhanced relationship between architecture, its...
This paper presents the development of an integrative and adaptive robotic fabrication
process for the production of wooden-based segmented shells of variable thickness.
A material and construction process is presented whereby an industrial robot with a
two-degree-of-freedom end effector acts as active formwork, positioning flexible strips of
plywo...
The Integrative Technology and Architectural Design Research (ITECH) Programme at the University of Stuttgart provides an international educational environment open to students from a variety of disciplines, such as architecture, engineering, biology and computer science. Together they envision, design and build novel material and fabrication syste...
This paper describes the design and fabrication of the ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2016/2017, the most recent in the series of experimental installations developed as an outcome of the design-and-build studio of the ITECH Masters Programme. The completed structure is a 12m long cantilevering lattice-composite shell that was wound in one piece by a m...
Fiber composite materials have tremendous potential in architectural applications due to their high strength to weight ratio and their ability to be formed into complex shapes. Novel fabrication processes can be based on the unique affordances and characteristics of fiber composites. Because these materials are lightweight and have high tensile str...
This paper investigates the potential of behavioral construction strategies for architectural production through the design and robotic fabrication of three-dimensional woven structures inspired by the behavioral fabrication logic used by the weaverbird during the construction of its nest. Initial research development led to the design of an adapti...
In recent years, extensive research in the HCI literature has explored interactive techniques for digital fabrication. However, little attention in this body of work has examined how to involve and guide human workers in fabricating larger-scale structures. We propose a novel model of crowdsourced fabrication, in which a large number of workers and...
In this paper, we describe an interdisciplinary project and live-exhibit that investigated whether untrained humans and robots could work together collaboratively towards the common goal of building a large-scale structure composed out of robotically fabricated modules using a filament winding process. We describe the fabrication system and exhibit...
The Hive Pavilion exhibited at Autodesk University (2015) investigated whether untrained workers and industrial robots could work collaboratively together towards the common goal of fabricating and assembling an architectural scale structure through the utilization of computational design, wearables, and interconnected devices. Though many narrativ...
The aim of the research presented in this paper is to examine the potential of integrated computational design methods for the development of complex fibre-based structures for architectural applications. While in today's building industry structural systems still rely on a set of well known typologies, integrated computational design strategies of...
This paper presents the production and development of an adaptive robotically fabricated fiber composite compression shell with pneumatic formwork as a case study for investigating a generative behavioral design model and an adaptive, online mode of production. The project builds off of previous research at the University of Stuttgart on lightweigh...
Process-based biomimetics focuses on the transfer of biological principles to architectural construction. To realise the ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2014 -15, presented here by Moritz Doerstelmann, Jan Knippers, Valentin Koslowski, Achim Menges, Marshall Prado, Gundula Schieber and Lauren Vasey of the Institute for Computational Design (ICD) and Ins...
This collaborative research project demonstrates the viability of using robotic fabrication and industrial polymer technologies in the fabrication of highly versatile and individually designed acoustically performative walls. Driven by the formal parameters which significantly impact the acoustics of a space through diffusion, in particular differe...
This chapter introduces the concept of Adaptive Part Variation (APV) as a method where robotically automated fabrication and construction processes employ sensors and feedback to make real-time corrections to material and assembly processes by varying the geometry and location of future parts to respond to deviations between digitally defined and p...
Difference and repetition are a recurring thematic within architectural discourse. Through the championing of digital techniques (algorithmic, associative or other) and numerically controlled fabrication methods, contemporary practice seeks an expansion of the linear and highly standardized protocols of industrial production. Algorithmic design met...