Bending-Active Lamination of Robotically Fabricated Timber Elements

Abstract

This paper presents a fabrication process that uses elastic bending as both a forming and a clamping process for robotically fabricating curved laminated timber elements. Bending a stack of wooden lamellae that is constrained at its endpoints causes differentiated shortening and lengthening, resulting in pressure between the lamellae. This pressure allows for glue-based lamination without the need for external clamping. This process makes use of the embedded forces resulting from bending, the ability to digitally precompute lengths and positions of wood lamellae, as well as the capability to precisely re-create these positions using an industrial robot arm.