Animaquina

Abstract

The complexities in robot integration, programming, and control pose significant challenges for designers in the field of architectural robotics. This paper identifies key opportunities to democratize the field by enhancing usability and simplifying integration processes. It introduces Animaquina, a toolkit designed to address these challenges through two main innovations: an intuitive interactive toolpathing approach and a modular, wireless hardware framework for simplified integration of sensors, actuators, and end-effectors. The paper begins by analyzing current architectural robotic tools to identify areas of opportunity. It then describes a prototype that implements the proposed strategies. This prototype is used for testing an iterative workflow, serving as the means to explore and validate the proposed functionality. The paper showcases an example workflow in robotic 3D printing and concludes by outlining the future roadmap for Animaquina’s development as an open-source platform to democratize architectural robotics.

Key Contributions

Intuitive interactive toolpathing approach for architectural robotics
Modular, wireless hardware framework for simplified integration
Democratization of architectural robotics through enhanced usability
Open-source platform development roadmap

Conference Details

Conference: ACADIA 2024: Designing Change
Location: Calgary, Canada
Dates: November 11-16, 2024
Pages: 591-600
Series: ACADIA

Citation

@inproceedings{pacheco2024animaquina,
  title={Animaquina},
  author={Pacheco, Luis},
  booktitle={ACADIA 2024: Designing Change [Volume 2: Proceedings of the 44th Annual Conference for the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA)]},
  year={2024},
  pages={591-600}
}