Robotic Design & Digital Fabrication in Architecture

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About Course

Robotics is transforming the way architects design and fabricate buildings. This course, Robotic Design & Digital Fabrication in Architecture, teaches you how to integrate robotic systems directly into your computational design workflow using Rhino and Grasshopper.

You will learn how to use industrial robot arms—specifically through KUKA|prc—to simulate, program, and execute fabrication strategies for architectural applications. Instead of treating robotics as a separate engineering field, this course shows you how to connect parametric design with real-world manufacturing logic.

Throughout the course, you will explore:

  • Robot setup and simulation inside Rhino/Grasshopper

  • Linear and advanced robotic movements

  • Custom tool creation and configuration

  • CNC milling with robotic arms

  • Hot-wire cutting for foam geometries

  • Robotic 3D printing and additive manufacturing workflows

  • Toolpath generation and optimization

  • Preparing robot-ready fabrication files

You will work with both simple and complex geometries, learning how to translate digital models into efficient robotic toolpaths. The course emphasizes practical understanding—such as material behavior, step-over distances, layer height control, spindle setup, and extrusion strategies—so you can confidently move from screen to machine.

By the end of this course, you will understand how to design for robotic fabrication, simulate full production workflows, and prepare projects for real-world architectural prototyping.

Whether you are an architecture student, computational designer, or digital fabrication enthusiast, this course will give you the technical and conceptual foundation to bring robotics into your design process.

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What Will You Learn?

  • Design robot-ready geometries in Rhino and Grasshopper optimized for digital fabrication and construction automation.
  • Understand and apply 6-axis robotic arm kinematics, including tool orientation, work envelopes, and coordinate systems, using a design-driven approach.
  • Control and simulate industrial robot arms using the KUKA|prc library inside Grasshopper without advanced robotics programming.
  • Generate and optimize robotic toolpaths for laser cutting, CNC milling, and robotic 3D printing.

Course Content

Hotwire Cutting using Robot Arm (KUKA prc)
Welcome to this course on Robotic Design and Digital Fabrication using Grasshopper and KUKA|prc. In this introductory video, I introduce myself, my academic and professional background in robotics and architecture, and the vision behind this course. With a PhD in Robotics in Architecture from Chung Ang University, a Master’s degree in Digital Design & Fabrication from Texas Tech University, and professional experience in Seoul working in AI, BIM, and computational design, I have developed this course to bridge the gap between architecture and robotic automation. You will get a preview of how we will use robot arms for facade design, fabrication, and construction automation. I demonstrate the KUKA|prc plugin inside Grasshopper, explain how robot tools and toolpaths work, and show how we can simulate laser cutting, CNC milling, hot-wire cutting, and robotic 3D printing workflows. This course is designed to help architects and engineers confidently integrate robotic arms into the design and construction process — without needing advanced robotics programming. Let’s begin the journey into automated architecture and robotic fabrication.

  • Lecture 1: Introduction
    00:00
  • Lecture 2: Simple Hot wire cutting movement using Robotarm
    00:00
  • Lecture 3: Robot_F0_2_hotwire cutting with custom tool.tscproj
    00:00
  • Lecture 4: Robot_F1_simple linear movement
    00:00

CNC milling using Robot Arm (KUKA prc)
What will students be able to do at the end of this section? By the end of this section, students will be able to design, simulate, and optimize CNC milling operations using a 6-axis robot arm inside

3D printing using Robotarm
By the end of this section, students will be able to: Set up a robotic arm for large-scale 3D printing inside Rhino and Grasshopper Configure a robotic 3D printing tool (extruder) using KUKA|prc Ge

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