Abstracts

Affordances in collaborative robotic production for artisan crafts and hybrid design

by Alan G. Burden

This thesis showed an industrial robot arm and augmented reality can complement handcrafting skills. The research studied artisans, finding a common technique was patternmaking – creating 2D templates for bending into 3D objects. A design process modified a workshop industrial robot to create 2D patterns. Additionally, a customised robot tool was designed for cutting and scoring materials, and an augmented reality headset allowed an artisan to control and see the robot’s planned actions. The findings show a hybrid approach of human and robot crafting techniques allowing artisans to make design objects in various sizes while maintaining the quality of the product.