Fluid Works
Building made-to-measure bike frames with robots and lasers.
Fluid Works is a project about building custom bicycle frames like its the actual 21st century.
Individual frames are manufactured using a parametric model, an industrial robot, and a cutting and welding laser.
Why actually?
Standard frame production optimizes for a small range of sizes. A custom frame fits the rider, but custom fabrication is slow and expensive.
Fluid Works tries to close that gap: a parametric model generates the geometry from the rider’s measurements, and an industrial robot cuts the tubes with a laser based on those specifications.
Frames are then welded using a laser welding process.
Individualisation
The serial badge references the current archetype (parametric model) and design algorithm. The rider data is encoded in the serial number. Visual labels allow tracing back the exact manufacturing data.
Current stage
The software is at prototype stage and the dynamic control of the industrial robot is working. Current work is focused on the physical production: especially the laser cutting workflow.