The two day symposium Robots that Build. The Extensions of Man. examines robotic fabrication within the framework of craft, craft-anchored techniques and multi-material systems. Under the paradigm of process efficiency and optimisation, robotic fabrication is extensively employed to primarily diminish manual labour and minimise margins of error or waste. Yet, robotic use can be also viewed as a means to translate, adapt  and advance craft-anchored manufacturing techniques.

Nearly 25 years after the publishing of McCullough’s “Abstracting Craft. The Practiced Digital Hand.”, the symposium is set out to test the current state and correlation between robotic fabrication and what is conventionally understood as craft.

The event brings together experts from leading research institutes and architecture schools in the fields of  architecture, robotic fabrication, computational design and innovative material systems. Themes to be discussed are the robotic translation of craft-anchored techniques, the relationship between tool, material, designer, and control of robotic processes.

The talks explore the past, present and future of robots and robotic fabrication in architecture through the lens of multi-materiality, the design of process and hybridised practices. The relationship between low-tech and high-tech in construction and the intelligence of systems — analogue vs digital — are key aspects we interrogate.

Innovative practices, current and future challenges of robotic fabrication, experimental material use and circular strategies are addressed and examined.