設計導向之機械手臂控制系統與流動性材料列印測試

Abstract

本研究基於科技影響建築設計發展之好奇，衍生及歸納出以下幾個探討面向。首先，以過往科技與工具的出現，連帶影響建築之設計與思考的變化為證，再將視野著重於數位時期之運用，並將運用大致分為「問題導向」與「創意導向」。相較於問題導向，本研究著重於以探索開放式及充滿未知之創意導向應用為主，並提出科技與設計的結合，能呈現了建築各個時代的特有面貌。其次，對於數位構築在建築發展中，常見構築僅僅複製虛擬形式之作法提出挑戰，並以機械手臂、3D列印和程序設計語言之交互作用，為當代工具之代表，以及了解其運作原理後，所帶來設計上思考與操作之影響。以期望能跳脫受工業革命與科技發展影響時期之概念，電腦輔助製造技術在建築領域中，僅作為將數位模型實體化的有限思維。其中，在現今工具輔助下，開啟對流動性材料控制之可能，並形成相對應之機械手臂控制與構築系統，一探當今資訊、科技與設計思考影響下，建築發展的可能性，並挑戰加深連結設計、材料與構築技術間之關係，以顯出其特殊非單一標準化之性質，使作品在真實世界因素交互作用下，能乘載著資訊，呈現具獨特之樣貌。最後，透過「瞬間結晶」與「生物塑膠」兩個小尺度構築之實作測試，挑戰具「相變」特性之流動性材料控制，過程中，並開發了一套可降低使用者門檻之機械手臂控制軟體TACO，並與機械手臂和客製機器末端作用器搭配，形成一流動性材料列印測試之機械手臂控制系統。此系統展現出:探索材料和型態之關係與在資訊交織下機械手臂的構築流程系統，並且可反映當下構築過程、與環境資訊的，獨特型態生成邏輯和混合型態。

With the curiosity about the influence on architectural design imposed by technologies, this study examined the related topics, thus constructed and summarized several aspects for investigation. Firstly, the changes of architectural design resulted from past technologies and tools were examined to justify the changes; then, the applications in the digital era were examined. The applications were roughly divided into two categories, namely, “problem-oriented” and “creativity-oriented.” This study focused on the explorative and open creativity-oriented applications which are full of unknown as opposed to the problem-oriented applications, thus presented a combination of technology and design to discuss the unique architectural appearances of different eras. Secondly, this study examined the digital fabrications of different architectural development stages and questioned those methods that do nothing but replicate the virtual shapes of architectural design, and then employed the interactions among robotic arms, 3D printing and programming language as the contemporary tools, and with the knowledge of the contemporary tools’ operating principles, this study examined the influence on architectural design imposed by the contemporary tools without consideration to the concepts resulted from industrial revolution and technological development, attempting to prove that the Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) technology serves one purpose only – to hypostatize digital models. The contemporary tools were sufficient to control the fluid materials, to construct a robotic arm control system and a fabrication system appropriate for fluid material control. Then, this study discussed the trend of architectural development, and with the results obtained from the discussions, this study examined the relationship among the in-depth link design, materials and fabricating technology under the influence imposed by the latest information, technology and design concepts. As exhibited by the discussion results, architects can create a unique and standardized nature for their works, allowing their works to present an informative and unique appearance under the interactions among various factors of the real world. Lastly, a practice test was performed using two undersized fabrications – “instant crystallization” and “bio-plastic” – to discuss the control of fluid materials having the property of “phase change”. During the test, robotic arm control software TACO was constructed to lower the threshold for users. When combined with robotic arm and custom-made machine-end effector, TACO created a robotic arm control system to print and test fluid materials. This system serves as a process system which is constructed with robotic arm in accordance with the relationship between materials and types as well as the information pertinent to such relationship, representing the fabrication process, the environment-related information, the logic of forming a unique style and a mixed style for the architects.