Design Robotics group (DRG)
The Design Robotics Group (DRG), lead by Professor Martin Bechthold, is a research unit that promotes the understanding, development and deployment of innovative technologies in the promotion of design as an agent of change in the quest for a better future. DRG looks at the role of material processes and systems in the built environment, with a special interest in robotic and computer-numerically controlled (CNC) fabrication processes. Combining issues of design computation, materials and assembly processes, the projects result in speculative prototypes as well as applied research geared towards industry integration.
The group pursues funded and other research projects, and supports thesis research on the masters and the doctoral level. Current emphasis is on advanced architectural ceramics, low-volume customization, life cycle design, and design for robotic assembly.
NEWS
- Work from the course CeramicsLAB will be shown at Harvard's 2012 Arts First weekend. Four student projects were selected for exhibition at the 2012 CEVISAMA in Valencia, Spain, where DRG showed ongoing research projects.
- Public Lectures: Professor Bechthold gave a keynote at the February 2012 Qualicer conference in Castellon, Spain. Nathan King will lecture at the March 09 CNC Symposium at Norwich University.
- DRG will conduct a workshop at the 2012 Smart Geometry conference, involving DRG faculty and researchers as well as MDEsS students Stefano Andreani, Jose-Luis Garcia, and Aurgho Jyoti.
- DRG and the Responsive Environments Lab are beginning their collaboration with Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, focusing on adaptive material technologies and applications.
- Professor Bechthold hosted a Technology Platform Event at the GSD, focusing on design technologies as agents of change.
