RESEARCH
WOOL AS
STRUCTURE
This research investigates locally-sourced Catalan wool as a structural building material — not merely passive insulation. The team developed a custom robotic end-effector for a six-axis robotic arm, capable of performing dry needle-felting with programmable control over fiber entanglement density.
By mapping tool path speed, RPM, and penetration depth, the system creates programmed density gradients that allow wool to crease, fold, and hold structural tension — without the need for synthetic binders. The result is a biomaterial that bridges vernacular craft and precision digital fabrication.
ROBOTIC PROCESS
END-EFFECTOR MOTION
NEEDLE FELTING SEQUENCE
FIBER ENTANGLEMENT
DENSITY MAPPING
FOLD + CREASE LOGIC
STRUCTURAL TENSION
OUTPUT
THREE
TYPOLOGIES
LINKED PANELS
Modular, interlocking wool surfaces that can be assembled into scalable planar configurations — combining insulation performance with structural continuity.
PERMANENT FORMWORK
Tensioned wool bases serve as bio-composite formwork, allowing secondary materials to cure directly against the felted surface without synthetic binders.
DEPLOYABLE TENSION STRUCTURES
Yarn-based systems that leverage wool's tensile properties to create pre-stressed deployable elements — activated by geometry rather than mechanical fasteners.
CUSTOM END-EFFECTOR — NEEDLE FELTING ON 6-AXIS ARM
TEAM
Nikos Kalaitzidis
Brooklyn Edsall
Leonard Elias Böker
Elias El Asmar
Nisanth Anil Menon
FACULTY
Edouard Cabay
Pit Siebenaler
PROJECT DETAILS