AAVS Day 4

We continued on the testing and group works. We assigned each person to a specific task on the group. I was trying to come up with design proposals as the others were collecting Overall / global configuration, Connection details and Physical component test on 1-1 scale. 

Given the capabilities of the robot I decided to go for a more curve based structure for the vault. Cutting curves by hand is tough but with a programmed robot it can be done. So the below design was proposed to the tutors. Also Dr. Christopher Pierce, the Director of AA Visiting Schools and AA Intermediate Unit 9 Master visited our workshop.

AAVS Day 5

After the group works and testing the fifth day was our last day to present our designs to the tutors so that one would be selected, enhanced and built to be the final structure. A couple of designs including the design I talked about before were presented. Unfortunately the design proposed by our group was not accepted. 

Later on we were all split into new groups to start on the final structure. The groups would each have specific tasks and we were given the liberty to assign ourselves to any group that seemed suitable for us. Some of the groups were, Robotics, lighting, connection, documentation, coding and onsite team. 

AAVS Day 6

 I chose the lighting team and we all started the testing right away. I first started a couple of simple LED tests on the foam blocks. The main goal was to light up the final structure but as easy as it sounded the task was not as simple. We also worked on the final coding that was going to go into the cutting of the components. We also had a lecture by Matthias Rippmann from ETH Zurich on vaults.

AAVS Day 7

 The components were finally ready to be cut meaning the code was finished. With that out of the way, our lighting team started some experiments on natural ( Daylight ) and LED lights . We started out tests on the 3d models and used Vray for light renderings. 

AAVS Day 8

We continued to test with the LEDs only this time we did it on real blocks and with LED strips. We tried different positions and different angles for the strips to get the best result. In the end we calculated and achieved the best spot for the LEDs to be placed. Below are photos of our tests with the strips and blocks.

AAVS Day 9

With the lighting almost ready I went on to help with the other groups. The connection group had to empty foam blocks and make concrete to fill them with. The concrete would be heavy and as a result would connect the walls of the vault on the ground. The ninth day was all hard work on making concrete and emptying blocks.  In the afternoon we also had a lecture by Sina Mostafavi from Delft Hyperbody team about robotic fabrication.

AAVS Day 10

The last day was the assembly day. The structure was scheduled to be done by 19:00. The groups overcame intense working to achieve the goal. The concrete blocks were dry by the morning and the assembly group was busy connecting the robot-cut components to each other. After the connection of the components was finished we all brought the vault outside to mount it on the walls. After the vault was in place the lighting group took wheel to place the LEDs. Two extra foam parts were cut out and added to the walls with shafts for the LED strips to rest in. By the afternoon the lighting was finished and the workshop came to an end.