“Robochop,” an installation of robotic arms by Kram/Weisshaar, will turn the power of design to users for this year’s CeBit IT fair. Starting in March, visitors to the 2015 fair in Hanover, Germany and those who download Kram/Weisshaar’s app will be able to carve 50-centimeter foam cubes into desired forms, all by way of robotics.
On its website, the Stockholm-based designers wrote: “‘Robochop’ envisions a not-so-distant future where smart systems empower citizens to directly engage with heavy industrial fabrication technology.” The project is an entry in CODE_n, a global innovation platform.
When users access the app, they create an individualized design for the robot. The system converts the design into a file which is transmitted to the robot. The robot then uses a needle gripper to remove a foam block from storage and a hot cutting wire for the sculpting process. The finished products are then packaged and sent to their designers.
The installation will run from March 16 to 20, online and in Hanover.
This is Reed Kram’s and Clemens Weisshaar’s second tryst with interactive robotics. In 2010, the duo debuted a system that allowed users to trace light patterns with six robotic arms.
Photos courtesy of CODE_n
