Robots Challenge

Abstract

Robots are taking over the world from more than a century ago, and are making radical changes to
concepts and humans expectations about things. The challenge was: Will robots replace humans? With
its capabilities in 2019, the new challenge is: Can we make what the robot cannot do? KUKA is a
robotic arm that can construct any structure with any shape or size with high precision. The idea started
at the workshop that I directed and organized at the university of Sharjah depending on my previously
worked on similar artworks. 22 hardworking students accepted the challenge and decided to work with
maximum capacity to make it happen. It finally took place in the Architectural Engineering department
main lobby for a period of two weeks. The produced wall is 2.2 m high, and 7.1 m long, constituted
from 1430 blocks. The process started with trying to produce a model that answers questions like: How
will we design? How will we fabricate? What material can humans use to challenge robots?; The wall
developed into an interactive learning experience from day 1 when students had questions in their heads
until today, not just for the working team, but also to other students by asking questions, taking pictures,
touching, and observing. The program used to design was Rhinoceros 3D v6, a 3D computer graphics
software, with a scripting plugin called BrickDesign. The design was produced by trial-and-error using
attraction points. For the materials, Styrofoam was used because of its cheap, light, and easy to handle,
and wooden skewers were used to nail the blocks together. To fabricate the design, sections were taken
from the design, printed, and used as a reference for the Styrofoam blocks.