CALL FOR PAPERS: ROB|ARCH2016 Robots in Architecture, Art and Design

The adoption of digital fabrication in the creative industries continues to accelerate as the potential for innovation and creative expression using robotics is being harnessed. ROB|ARCH2016 will provide hands-on experience with the most recent robotic technologies as well as a platform for dissemination and an opportunity for researchers and industry to exchange expertise, explore methods, compare techniques and forge new connections.

ROB|ARCH is a bi-annual conference series on the use of robots and robotic fabrication in architecture, art and design. Initiated by the Association for Robots in Architecture it aims to link industry with cutting edge research institutions. In 2012 the conference was run by its founders in Vienna (Austria), it was then hosted by the University of Michigan (USA) in 2014. In 2016 the conference will travel to Australia where The Faculty of Architecture, Design and Planning at The University of Sydney is proud to be the host of the conference. ROB|ARCH2016 seeks to bring together architects, artists, designers, fabricators, and industry leaders.

The organisers of ROB|ARCH2016 invite authors to submit papers with original research relating to the use of robots in architecture, art, and design. The purpose of this year’s conference is to advance the discourse surrounding robotic fabrication and creative robotics in its theme “Trajectories” – towards the integration of human-robot interactions informed by sensor input and real-time feedback in diverse environmental conditions.

ROB|ARCH2016 will take place shortly before Easter 2016 in Sydney Australia, with Dagmar Reinhardt and Rob Saunders of the University of Sydney as conference chairs.
They are joined by Marjo Niemelä (University of Sydney), Mari Velonaki and Hank Haeusler (UNSW), Chris Knapp and Jonathan Nelson (Abedian School of Architecture, Bond University), Jane Burry, Roland Snooks, and Nicholas Williams (RMIT), Dave Pigram (UTS), and Tim Schork and Jon McCormack (Monash University) as co-chairs.

Topics for papers include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Robotic fabrication for architecture, art and design
  • Creative robotics in architecture, art and design
  • Design methods for robotics
  • Stereotomy and stereolithography for robotics
  • Cooperative robotic fabrication
  • Prototyping with industrial tools
  • Human-machine interfaces and interactions
  • Realtime sensor feedback for fabrication and interaction
  • Iterative learning in manufacturing
  • Mobile and on-site robotics
  • Cognition, behavioural and cognitive science in robotics
  • Evolutionary and creative systems for robotics
  • Machine learning and developmental robotics
  • Social robotics and human-robot interaction

An international scientific committee consisting of researchers, designers, and architects will evaluate the papers and provide feedback to the authors. The selected papers will be published by Springer in the proceedings and presented at the conference in Sydney, Australia.

Submission: Please submit your paper abstracts via eMail to chair[at]robarch2016.org

CALL FOR WORKSHOPS: ROB|ARCH2016 Robots in Architecture, Art and Design

The conference invites proposals for workshops related to robotic programming and fabrication with the following topics:

  • Workflows, Networks, and Interfaces
  • Design to robotic fabrication
  • Digital and physical robotic interfaces
  • Non-standard Robotic Fabrication
  • “Smart” robotic fabrication
  • Material feedback and robotic simulation
  • Onsite Robotic Fabrication
  • Physical Computing
  • New robotic end-effectors
  • Customized robotics
  • Human-Robot Interactions
  • Approaches to creative and social robotics
  • Machine learning and developmental models

ROB|ARCH 2016 conference and workshops will allow practitioners to share expertise, to bring together teams of international researchers, to foster networks, to increase knowledge, and to stimulate innovation.

You are strongly encouraged to submit proposals of workshops that are conceptualized around the available resources of co-hosting workshop Universities, and furthermore to wherever possible, team up with one of the Australian hosts. Please see team descriptions, robots equipment and workshop facilities listed.

Submission: Please submit your workshop proposal via eMail to chair[at]robarch2016.org. Provide information on the workshop topic, presenters, and a proposed schedule (download example) and compile it into no more than 2 pages of text and 4 additional images as a PDF (i.e. maximum 6 pages)