Gold Coast architecture, technology and design buffs will be privy to a private audience with a leader in collaborative robotics, Thibault Schwartz, when he visits Bond University this week.
Thibault Schwartz is an internationally-renowned architect, roboticist and software engineer, and founder of HAL Robotics, LTD.
Since 2011, Thibault has participated in the creation of a dozen architectural robotics laboratories in Europe and the UK, and has been sharing the knowledge gained from these experiments in international events such as Advances in Architectural Geometry and Rob|Arch, and in several European schools of architecture and design such as the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture Paris-Malaquais (Paris), die Angewandte (Wien) and the UCL Bartlett School of Architecture (London).
Thibault will be sharing his latest research findings and developments in the fast-paced world of industrial robotics at a public lecture at the iconic Abedian School of Architecture building at Bond (from 3.00pm to 5.00pm on Thursday March 10), as part of the University’s high-profile 2016 Architecture Lecture Series.
While at Bond, Thibault will also be collaborating with the staff and students of the Abedian School of Architecture and putting Bond’s robots through its paces.
Leading industrial robot manufacturer, ABB has kindly loaned a YuMi® to Bond to experiment collaboratively with the University’s two existing IRB 1200 robots, ahead of Thibault’s visit.
YuMi® is a collaborative, dual arm, seven axes, small parts assembly robot that has flexible hands, and state-of-the-art robot control; designed to work side-by-side with humans.
“Thibault is a pioneer in the world of robotic technologies and applications, and over the past two years, our staff and students have been working on a project with him that pushes the boundaries of intelligent, collaborative, interactive robotics,” said Assistant Professor Jonathan Nelson, of Bond University’s Abedian School of Architecture.
“We are exploring new and different ways for multiple robots to not just work together intelligently on tasks, but react to, and with, one another based on sensors and voice commands,” he said.
“We are experimenting with a whole new breed of robots; robots that are touch sensitive, intelligent and have problem-solving capabilities.
“Thibault is the world’s foremost expert on human robotic collaboration. He creates the software and architecture that brings the robotics hardware to life
“Thanks to the ingenious bespoke software of Thibault, our ‘guest robot’ will have the intelligence to work alongside Bond’s two existing IRB 1200 robots to perform a collaborative task. For example, sift through a pile of lego and choose the exact piece it needs to build the design it has been programmed to perform.
Following his visit to Bond, Thibault and his colleagues from HAL Robotics will join Assistant Professor Chris Knapp and Assistant Professor Jonathan Nelson from the Abedian School of Architecture in Sydney for the Rob|Arch 2016 conference.
The HAL Robotics/Bond University team will be hosting a hands-on robot workshop on collaborative robotics workflows at the Conference, including their learnings from the robots most recent experimental collaboration at Bond University.
Rob|Arch is a biennial international conference and workshop series which brings together researchers, academics, industry experts and enthusiasts in robotic fabrication from the worlds of architecture, art and design.
For more information, go to: Architecture Lecture Series.