IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine - September 2014 - 144

Robotics Interfacing with Architecture
Two highly desirable activities arise naturally from the abovementioned discussion: 1) identification of ways in which robotics, in its current state, can transition usefully into
architecture and 2) identification and removal of the key barriers currently preventing such transitions.
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IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE

september 2014

We believe the key barriers to progress in 2) are interdisciplinary communication and, more importantly, the lack of
corresponding education at the graduate level. The architectural robotics course is thus aimed, at the high level, to be at
the intersection of architecture and engineering and, at the
detailed level, to develop common concepts necessary for creating new robotic environments.
Visions and early investigations on robotics interfacing
with architecture have begun to emerge. Mitchell [5] postulated that in the near future, "our buildings will become... robots
for living in." Subsequent efforts have concentrated on either
adding sensory/computational elements to existing architecture (smart buildings) [6], [7] or introducing self-contained
robots into existing spaces [3, Ch. 55]. The second approach
appears to be the obvious way to introduce robotics into architecture. However, it is argued here that a more interesting (and
practical) approach involves a tighter coupling of the fields, applying robotics techniques and theory to move the mass that
forms the core shape of the environment.
The explicit goals of this graduate-level course at Clemson
University are to explore the boundary between robotics and
architecture and promote creativity at their intersection while
addressing the challenge of widely differing expectations between the engineers, architects, and psychologists. All of the
course activities are designed to be open ended, with the key
objects being the creative process and design methodology
rather than any specific end product. This has led to valuable
insight into the nature of inherent disciplinary biases and the
surprises that can result when the creative strengths of the two
fields are suitably catalyzed.
This course is not the first effort aimed at combining engineering and other disciplines in graduate classes [8].
However, it is unique in that it focuses on the robotic elements as an integral part of environmental design (e.g., in
plumbing, air conditioning, etc.) as opposed to being introduced into a previously built space. The first offering of the
class in the spring 2009 semester was found to be the richest
in terms of new pedagogical information and is thus the focus
Arduino +
Motor
Shield

Servo Motor

Servo
Motor

LEGO
Mindstorms Kit

Bosch
Frame

Figure 1. An example of architectural robotics: a wirelessly
controlled rack and pinion system used to adjust the height of a
table surface. (Photo courtesy of Anthony Threatt.)

Anthony threAtt

The class is cross-listed in the Electrical and Computer
Engineering and Architecture Departments at Clemson
University and engages multidisciplinary teams of students in
open-ended hardware-based projects focusing on robotic systems working in, or augmenting, the built environment. While
the classical education in these disciplines highlights the design as a key element, what design means and how students
are exposed to it differ significantly between each population.
The motivation of the class is to promote collaborative research between the two title fields; this is a promising area but
has so far been elusive in
providing concrete benefits to society. While exRobotics still awaits that
tensive progress has been
made within robotics subsingularity that will make
disciplines over the past
several decades, its transirobot use widespread and
tion into technologies affecting the world in which
ubiquitous in people's
we live has been relatively
slow. Despite promising
everyday existence.
robotics efforts in health
care, surgery, rehabilitation, domestic environments, and education [3, Ch. 52-55],
robots are still largely restricted to industrial, remote, and hazardous environments [3, Ch. 42 and 47]. Robotics still awaits
that singularity that will, as predicted in innumerable science
fiction stories, make robot use widespread and ubiquitous in
people's everyday existence.
One engineered product familiar to all and often overlooked by technologists is the built environment inhabited by
humans at wide-ranging scales, from that of furniture to that
of the metropolis. In shaping the built environment, architects collaborate with engineering disciplines outside of robotics (e.g., structural and civil engineers) to bring the added
value of form making (aesthetics), framing of human activity
(programming), and technical performance/expression (tectonics). The tectonic aspect of the built environment has long
been advanced by architects and consulting engineers and
has intensified in recent years with the advent of increasingly
advanced technologies and methods, particularly as a result
of the information technology revolution. Curiously, despite
this advancement, there has been almost no incursion of robotics or its elements into architecture or built environments.
Architecture as a field has a long and rich history of innovation [4], and its economic impact vastly overshadows that
of robotics. Widespread adoption of robotic technologies
within architecture would likely have a major positive impact
on robotics.

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