A programming grammar for robotic fabrication: Incorporating material agency into clay textures

Material agency describes how material affordances and constraints have the inherent capacity to suggest formal transformations. Digital fabrication typically excludes material agency because it requires the final form is digitally modelled before it can be fabricated. To enrich the fabrication design space with material agency, we introduce 1) a programming grammar that relates the sensing of material states with the transformation of fabrication actions via explicit rule notations; 2) a grammatical compiler that translates these rule notations into a responsive robot executable program; 3) a set of critical reflections on how this grammar enhances the fabrication design space with material agency. Consequently, our contributions broaden digital fabrication to produce intricate material forms that cannot be simulated by geometrical definitions.