// CONCEPT

The KukaBox is a rotating music box fabricated almost entirely by a Kuka robotic arm using standard wooden battons as construction material. The unique digitally fabricated wooden sticks together form a rotating structure based on a series of triangles where the tip of each triangle corresponds to a point positioned in a precise matrix that allows it to hit the corresponding metal cube with a specific sound frequency or note. As a whole and with the right rotation speed this allows the structure to perform a melody.

// FABRICATION PROCESS

The 45x1000mm standard sticks are being fed by a custom built feeder to the Kuka which grabs the stick, passes it over a tablemounted
circular saw and cuts it to its corresponding length.

When cut, the Kuka passes the stick over the milling head (also table mounted) where its connection
joints gets shaped. Finally, it places the stick on the floor in its exact relative position to the other
sticks.

Even with relatively stable joints a person has to go over the structure and fasten the triangles to each other with a nailgun during the fabrication process to ensure structural stability and precision.
The fabrication of the halflap joints at the end of the sticks were during the process changed from using milling to using the circular saw. Milling the joints would require a relatively large set of milling paths for each joint while the circular saw can do the same with just two fast slits.

// FABRICATION DETAILS

// JOINT DESIGN

// VIDEO

‘Robotic Fabrication – The Music Box’ is a project of IaaC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia developed at Master in Advanced Architecture in 2016 by:

Students: Utsav Mathur, Tanuj Thomas, Peter Magnus and Jean Sebastian Munera
Faculty: Alexandre Dubor, Djordje Stanojevic