Programming Design Environments to Foster Human-Machine Experiences

The introduction of robotic construction methods in the building industry holds great promise to increase the stagnating productivity of the construction industry and reduce its current carbon footprint, in considerable part caused by waste and error in construction. A promising aspect is the implementation of integrated CAD/CAM processes where the design intent -expressed in CAD- is directly translated in machine instructions (CAM) without loss of information or need for intermediate translation and refactoring. As the introduction of robotics will hardly spell the disappearance of human workers, a key challenge will be orchestrating human-machine collaboration in and around the construction site or fabrication plant. Our contribution presents explorations in this field. Key to our approach is the investigation of the above-mentioned questions in conjunction with Mixed Reality (MR) interfaces to give access to both human and machine workers to the same dynamic CAD model and assembly instructions. This paper describes our work in this field through two artistic installations and ongoing research on additive manufacturing enabled construction. We probe principles for precise, customised, efficient, almost waste-free and just-in-time productions in the construction sector.