December 2, 2014

Inland Sea: Sea Urchins Inspire Robotics in Germany

Creatures from the deep influenced robotics research at Germany’s Universität Stuttgart. “Our research associates were able to translate the microscopic interlocking projections along the plate edges of a sea urchin’s exoskeleton into an architectural application to showcase the possibilities of computational design and robotic fabrication,” says Achim Menges. See the slideshow for project details.

The Numbers:

2 inches = thickness of the beech plywood

4 = research associates assisting structural engineering, architecture, and geodetic design professors Jan Knippers, Achim Menges, and Volker Schwieger

243 = geometrically unique panels

1,350 square feet = the size of the project

7,600 = individual finger joints

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