Innovative Mosaic (2013 R+D Award)

Artaic began developing software and a robotic arm to automatically—and quickly—assemble tile mosaic walls and floors based on any image. The designer or client begins by selecting or generating a digital image along with the desired tile palette. Artaic’s software then translates the image into pixels that will correspond to each physical mosaic tile of a given color and size. Similar to painting by numbers, the robot in Artaic’s shop picks up and positions the corresponding, individual mosaic tile into a square-foot grid. The square-foot grids are turned into mosaic tile sheets, which are then shipped to the project site and assembled into the full, seamless image.

Project: Innovative Mosaic
Design Firm: Artaic, Boston

(2013 R+D Awards recipient)

R+D Awards
ARCHITECT magazine’s annual R+D Awards program honors the research and technologies that have advanced the profession at every scale—from design strategies and building products to fabrication methods, installations, software, and materials.