Assembly of Spaceframes in Hybrid Teams: Adaptive Digital Fabrication Workflows for Human-Robot Collaboration

In spatial timber assemblies, a multitude of factors can lead to errors that hinder the implementation of complete automation including but not limited to inaccuracies of the robotic setup, deformations of the structures during assembly, or the natural dimensional variability of wood. Any unplanned event, construction detail, or material variability that was not embedded ahead of time in the CAD environment can cause failure. To mitigate these challenges, this paper expands this conventional one-directional design-tofabrication pipeline and proposes interactive digital fabrication workflows where humans and robots work synergistically, blending the adaptability of human craft with the precision of robotic technology. The method is validated with two prototypes comprising linear timber elements and 3d printed connections that showcase adaptability in the fabrication setup and allow for design changes to happen concurrently with fabrication. In this paradigm, human operators are not mere extensions of the robotic system but rather central to dynamic problemsolving and instrumental in making immediate adjustments.