TIMBER

Timber focuses on the robotic handling and machining of timber members, to ultimately create a self-supporting frame using complex three-dimensional notches.

The design of this project was generated algorithmically though a Grasshopper script that maps sticks of a given dimension to a lofted surface, which is a result of two circles rotating against each other. The structure is able to hold its shape by intersecting two of these stick mappings and creating an endless "weave" of sticks closing the loop on its self. The tooling was also created in Grasshopper using a custom script that I wrote to find drive geometry generated by a notch or hole in the stick and outputs the robot tool paths for the given stick in the form of target planes. The plugin HAL was then used to translate those target planes into robot code.

HOW IT WORKS

For this project, I developed two scripts in Grasshopper. The first evaluates the geometry of a 3-D model of a timber member. The second using information from the first script, outputs the robotic tool paths and code needed to machine that member with all of its detected features. In the case of this project, it was a 4-foot member with a notch and a hole. This, tied together with taught material handling procedures, my group and I set out to create a circular, reciprocal wooden frame. Again, using Grasshopper, we generated a frame that closes in on itself, which makes the frame self-supporting.

We ran into a few errors along the way in regards to machining accurately with the two robots, and moving from 3-D digital space into the real world. It took us about 8 attempts before we achieve the accuracy we wanted. After the robotic machining, we moved to our wood shop to do some post processing on the stick, Due to the complexity of the frame, it took us two attempts to assemble, but once we figured the correct way to assemble, it worked flawlessly.

This project was done with Jose Pertierra and Tony Zhang.