Acoustic panels and other architectural elements can be made in complex 3D forms using a robotic needle felting process developed by researchers at the Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning in the US.
Wes McGee, Tsz Yan Ng and Asa Peller liken their process to 3D printing, or additive manufacturing, because it also involves the digitally engineered layering of material.
And just as those processes have allowed for the creation of more geometrically complicated forms in materials such as plastic, concrete and even living tissue, the team's robotic process opens up new opportunities for felt.
Felt can be made in 3D forms using the robotic needle felting technique
Made from either wool, polyester or a blend of the two, felt is a textile that is made by bonding rather than weaving layers of material together. Typically, this is done through needle felting, where barbed needles punch through the layers, tangling the fibres together. On an industrial level, this work is already done by machines, but the Taubman College team enhanced this process with some advanced technologies.
The team made a felted pouffe as well as several prototype panels
It means that the kind of products that are now made of felt ? which, because of its sound-dampening properties, is particularly popular in acoustic panels ? could be made in more complex shapes, and with sophisticated or customised properties built into their form.

For starters, their tool felts in three dimensions rather than...