Robotics for Architectural Restoration

In the current age of automation, there is a growing opportunity to connect design and manufacturing into a single workflow that harnesses industrial tools such as robots and brings their efficiencies to vulnerable building sites within the conservation of cultural heritage.

Robot-heritage integration is key to accomplishing high-profile conservation efforts that can combine technology with site-specific cultural instances and also address the synthesis of design, time, labor, and material. This book brings together years of original research and provides practical applications, case studies with in-depth analysis, and technical guidance, including drawings and diagrams. Codarin proposes a methodology that can be developed and scaled up to maximize impact on the future of the ever-important fields of cultural heritage and historic preservation.

The first book to comprehensively research the intersection of robotics, digital fabrication, restoration theory, and digital technologies in data collection, this will be of great interest to all students and professionals supporting architectural restoration and conservation, as well as those working in robotics and AI for the architectural and construction industries.

Sara Codarin is an Italian architect and educator at Lawrence Technological University, College of Architecture and Design. Her research spans robotic fabrication, digital craft, computational workflows, and generative AI for world-building. She holds a Master's degree and a PhD from the University of Ferrara, where she investigated methodologies for integrating robotics into architectural restoration. She has exhibited projects at the Biennale Architettura 2025 in Venice, Pratt Institute’s School of Architecture in New York, Milan Design Week, and Detroit Month of Design. Sara is a techno-optimist, and she loves robots.