{"id":6284,"date":"2017-06-01T10:25:12","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T14:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=6284"},"modified":"2025-10-10T11:11:44","modified_gmt":"2025-10-10T15:11:44","slug":"heritage-conservation-with-robots","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/heritage-conservation-with-robots\/","title":{"rendered":"A Leap Forward for Heritage Conservation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n A Leap Forward for Heritage Conservation\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

Although the tools they use have evolved over the years, architects have always designed and built physical structures and objects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pair of jointed-arm industrial robots recently acquired by the Carleton Immersive Media Studio<\/a> (CIMS) represent the latest leap forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roughly three metres high when fully extended, the Kuka KR 360 and a desk-sized KR 6 are housed in a customized room in Carleton\u2019s Architecture Building. Kuka<\/a> is the manufacturer and the numbers refer to the payload (in kilograms) each machine is capable of handling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Carleton University Architecture PhD candidate James Hayes<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Purchased with support from Public Services and Procurement Canada<\/a> (PSPC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council<\/a> (SSHRC), the robots will help CIMS and its collaborators in the federal government continue their cutting-edge work in the rapidly advancing world of digitally-assisted fabrication.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re the only university in Canada with a setup of this kind,\u201d says James Hayes, the Architecture PhD<\/a> candidate helming the robot project, currently focused on the heritage conservation components of the major rehabilitation of Parliament Hill.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe ability to actually craft and make artifacts is fundamental to an architectural education.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The CIMS team will use the robots to assist in creating sculptures and other architectural ornaments in a variety of materials \u2014 including stone and wood \u2014 from digital models obtained by laser scanning and photogrammetry, the science of using photographs to make precise measurements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This technology has already been of use on Parliament Hill, where centuries-old sculptures are being replaced or restored as part of the renovations, and new decorative features are being crafted for the Government Conference Centre, which will serve as a temporary home for the Senate when the decade-long Centre Block restoration begins next year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And because human hands will continue to play a role in this process, from operating the robots to the fine-detail finishing work on a sculpture before installation, some people in traditional fields such as stone masonry don\u2019t see the robots as a threat to their employment.<\/p>\n\n\n

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A Tool in the Tool Box<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey\u2019re another tool in the box,\u201d says Canada\u2019s Dominion Sculptor Phil White, whose responsibilities include the conservation of all the architectural ornamentation on Parliament Hill. \u201cFrom my point of view, this technology is going to enhance the possibilities for what we can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see people losing jobs,\u201d continues White, noting that there is some concern and debate in his field about the impact of new technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThere could even be new jobs created. Digital fabrication provides an opportunity to learn a new craft in combination with a traditional craft.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Laser scanning something as a step toward making a 3D object is an idea that developed at the National Research Council<\/a> (NRC) in Ottawa in the 1990s, says White, who was working at the Museum of Civilization at the time and worked with the NRC to create a replica sphinx for an Egypt exhibition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two decades later, the technology has matured and is being used to restore historical objects, such as a badly deteriorated owl sculpture perched on the northeast corner of the East Block that White worked with CIMS to digitize and reproduce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And it is being used to help create new ornamentation, \u201cwhich seems to have been forgotten for decades,\u201d says White, who is also working with CIMS on a collection of 10 decorative maple leaves that will be milled into wooden panels, cast in glass and carved out of stone for the Government Conference Centre.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cPSPC sees great future potential for these robots,\u201d says the department, a collaborator with CIMS since 2008.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cThey are examples of how projects within the parliamentary precinct are leveraging innovation and technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cInnovative digital fabrication technology has been used in a complementary fashion with old world craftsmanship as a new method of delivering stone carvings and stone repairs required by the rehabilitation projects on Parliament Hill, while continuing to respect the heritage character of these elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAll sculptural elements found on the interior and exterior of the buildings are being modelled to create a database of historic elements, which can called upon when repairs are required. In addition, in the future, these 3D models can be shared online to allow interested individuals to view and explore the sculptural artisanship on Canada\u2019s Parliament Buildings.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

[wide-image image=”5325″\/]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Return to Ornamentation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Stone and metal sculptures are expensive and time-consuming to produce, and aren\u2019t regular features on the modernist buildings \u2014 boxy structures with clean, straight lines \u2014 that have become the norm in our cities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By reducing costs and the amount of time required, digitally-assisted fabrication could herald a return to the type of ornamentation that was common when the Parliament Buildings were constructed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cWe\u2019re the only university in Canada with a setup of this kind,\u201d says Hayes, the Architecture PhD candidate helming the robot project, currently focused on the heritage conservation components of the major rehabilitation of Parliament Hill.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m interested in seeing what type of new designs emerge,\u201d says David Edgar of RJW Gem Campbell Stonemasons<\/a>, the head conservator and foreman for the company\u2019s carving work on the West Block restoration project and an independent consultant who has worked with CIMS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Edgar, who came to Canada from the United Kingdom to work on Parliament Hill and has been involved since the first scaffolds went up, says this technology could be perceived as a threat to traditional stone carving. But he prefers to see this shift as a new set of tools that could help revitalize the relationship between his craft and modern architecture.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s not as straightforward as you might think \u2014 you don\u2019t just scan an object and hit \u2018go\u2019 on the robot,\u201d says Edgar.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cMaybe carvers are going to move into more of a design role, instead of hitting stone. I don\u2019t think I\u2019m going to make myself redundant and I\u2019m interested in learning more about my craft and being part of its evolution.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAutomation significantly altered the stone industry a long time ago,\u201d adds Hayes. \u201cWe’re exploring ways for digital fabrication to work in conjunction with skilled craftspeople.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cA craftsperson with skills in stonecutting, woodcarving or metallurgy knows the material qualities of the thing that is to be fabricated,\u201d says CIMS Director Stephen Fai, Hayes\u2019s PhD supervisor. \u201cMaterial and form are related \u2014 but not the same. This knowledge of material informs the imagination of the craftsperson in determining what is possible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan the stone be cut deeply here? Will the grain of the wood allow this detail? Michelangelo is famously credited with saying that the form of the sculpture is already in the stone. The imagination of the craftsperson is what lifts us above the tedium of mindless replicas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat said, we need to remember that digital fabrication also requires craft. If accuracy and precision are important \u2014 digital capture, digital modelling and translation for fabrication are all exacting tasks that require very specific knowledge and skill sets. To bring heritage and the digital together requires two highly refined sets of skills \u2014 two crafts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Heritage Conservation through Digital and Traditional Means<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Holding a control panel that looks like a souped-up tablet computer, Hayes demonstrates a tool change for the KR 360. The robot gracefully swings around and the drill bit-like attachment at its tip is released and another is secured in its place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The KR 360, typically used in auto plants and similar manufacturing industries, can rotate 360 degrees, as can the work table where objects that it alters are placed. The arm part has six different axes of movement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat\u2019s six degrees of freedom,\u201d says Hayes, who has started an architecture firm with CIMS alumni Darcy Charlton and Ryan Odell, \u201cbut also six degrees of complexity.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a couple months of calibration work, there is still much to learn about the operation of the machines, although already been used for prototyping with high-density foam. Diamond-covered tooling that will enable it to cut stone has been ordered and is on the way from Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moving a few feet away to the KR 6, which is enclosed in a Plexiglas case, Hayes places a foam block beneath the milling tool and begins a pre-programmed sequence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Starting at the top, the robot begins to cut contours out of the foam. The end result will be an aesthetically pleasing abstract decorative ornament \u2014 and it will be finished in less than three hours, a project that would take a human craftsperson two or three days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s relatively rare to be able to do this kind of research as part of an architecture PhD,\u201d says Hayes.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cAnd our work is just getting started. There\u2019s so much research potential.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Fai considers the use of digitally assisted fabrication on heritage conservation and rehabilitation projects a logical unfolding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDigitization using photogrammetry and terrestrial laser scanning is well established in the recording of objects, buildings and landscapes that have heritage value,\u201d he says. \u201cThis metric information can be translated into very accurate drawings or digital models that can serve as a record or as the basis for conservation or rehabilitation initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOver the past decade, the computer hardware and software needed to do this has become increasingly fast and affordable. It is a logical next step to use this same information to assist in fabrication.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Carleton<\/figure>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although the tools they use have evolved over the years, architects have always designed and built physical structures and objects. A pair of jointed-arm industrial robots recently acquired by the Carleton Immersive Media Studio (CIMS) represent the latest leap forward. Roughly three metres high when fully extended, the Kuka KR 360 and a desk-sized KR […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[13,19],"cu_story_tag":[1918],"class_list":["post-6284","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","hentry","cu_story_type-research-discovery","cu_story_type-technology-innovation","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-engineering-and-design"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/6284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/6284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":97215,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/6284\/revisions\/97215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=6284"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=6284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}