For a week, 40 1st year students from BA Industrial Design and BA Media and Interaction Design had the opportunity to work hand-in-hand with 4 robotic arms to create experimental printing techniques, discovering and working with some of the possibilities of a robotic arm. They learned how to make it move and saw that it can perform movements with great precision.

But without a hand and a tool at the end of the arm, possibilities of a robot are quite limited. That's why we worked on a hand and a tool and learned how to make the arm, hand and tool work together. As we know from our body, a hand can be used to hold a tool and move it through the arm. But the hand can also make additional movements that the arm cannot make alone. Both of these principles were considered this week.

The aim was to create lines using surprising techniques and unexpected materials. These lines could be straight, curved or complex. They could be laid flat on a surface (2D), use a material that adds volume to the surface (2.5D) or create a final result in volume (3D).

After mastering the creation of lines, each group was responsible for writing a letter over the course of the week. The beauty of the gesture was undeniably something that had to be an integral part of your thinking. The final result had to work autonomously, but the robot's creation process had to be documented.

“Production Line” Workshop, May 2023
BA1 Media & Interaction Design &
BA1 Industrial Design

Lecturers:
Andrea Anner (AATB)
Alain Bellet
Thibault Brevet (AATB)
Niklas Hagemann
Martin Hertig

Assistants:
Emma Casella
Sébastien Matos

Students:
Abla Bolassi Owoussi, Alexander Bryant Paynter, Alexandre Li, Alexine Sierro, Alice Graff, Aryana Noorani, Aurélien Clerc, Baptiste Godart, Charlotte Jobin, Charlotte Waridel, Elena Biasi, Emilie Maier, Eva Reymond, Fernandez Oriana Gonzalez, Flavia Renaud, François Ader, Gaia Vitali, Isaure Nicolet, Jean-Elie Matile, Jeremy Loup, Joab Schneiter, Julie Tena, Lélie Guiochet, Livia Schmid, Mael Sandoz, Maëlle Rotten, Mathias Liniger, Matteo De Carlo, Matthieu Rigelo, Mehdin Talovic, Melchior Myard, Noah Stanley, Olivia Capol, Quentin Kohler, Salla Vallotton, Sasha Iatsenia, Thomas Gaudin, Titouan Longatte, Valère Zen-Ruffinen