Described as “an architect and fabricator with a great experience in advanced robotic fabrication”, Iraqi designer Layth Mahdi has debuted his first collection of robot-milled marble products entitled Ripple at the recent Dubai Design Week.
With the collection comprised of a table and a series of vases, human programming and AI algorithms were combined to create the designs and a 7-axis Kuka industrial robotic arm was utilized to mill the products.
“The idea is to take something people perceive as solid and rigid such as stone and through the use of highly advanced robots, make it look very fluid, organic and light,” said Mahdi.
“The robot for me acts as a digital, very flexible yet precise carver. I believe the future is collaborative,” Mahdi told Dezeen. “Humans can do certain things perfectly, while robots are designed to do other tasks better, faster and more accurately. They both have their own skills and limitations. A collaboration between the two opens up creative opportunities and set many limitations aside.”
Sourcing the marble from Vermont and Georgia in the United States, each of the seven vases are said to take seven to eight hours for the industrial robotic arms to create, with the abstract coffee table taking 24 hours.
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