ABSTRACT
The Wave Pavilion was designed and built at the University of Michigan Taubmann College of Architecture and Urban Planning, using a 7-axis robotic arm working in conjunction with a CNC rod bender. While the arm can move with absolute freedom within its work envelope, the CNC rod bender can only bend the rod along a single axis, though it can bend to precise angles along that axis. To create three-dimensional bends in the rod the robot will spin the rod as it moves it to the next bending position, creating the ability to make profiles of most any shape. The formal premise of the installation is that bent rod, by itself, can form self-structuring geometries, but once it is combined into units which have a deeper depth-to-span ratio it is capable of spanning much greater distances and capable of accommodating larger loads.
