The Pixel Wall is a 2x2 meters wall part built as an assembly of standard cork blocks. Instead of customizing the geometry of each block; the Pixel wall explores the use of the industrial robot to place identical blocks in different specific positions in space to materialize irregular customized wall parts. The fabrication of this structure was the first experiment with the robot at the DFL. By then, there was no gripper available, so, the team engineered the use of double-side tape in the robot to grab the cork bricks. After the precise layering of each level, the glue was manually deposited on the brick’s top surface before the next one.
Although the automation was not fully achieved during the assembly, this experiment allowed testingthe computational design of irregular brick structures and the digital programming of their robotic fabrication. Besides this technological side, the Pixel Wall demonstrates the possibility to produce acoustic and thermal insulation walls in cork with variable and customized material effects. Without changing their production processes based on standardization, the cork industry can expand the application of their product using robotic assembly methods.