Robin Roussel is a researcher in computational design.
As part of a collaboration between the Laboratory for Design and Machine Learning and the Computer Science Research Centre, Robin’s work explores the application of data-driven methods to housing design problems.
Robin holds a PhD in Computer Science from University College London and an MSc in Engineering from Mines ParisTech.
Robin’s position is funded by Prosit Philosophiae Foundation.
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Research interests
Robin’s research interests lie at the intersection of computational geometry, machine learning, causal reasoning and human-computer interaction. His work explores the potential (and limitations) of data-driven approaches to support design at various scales, as well as analyse and predict its outcomes.
Robin’s research investigates the following questions: What is the relationship between functional specifications and constraints, the resulting design space, and the qualities of each design within that space? Can this relationship be used to prescribe desirable design characteristics or policies? What kind of designs emerge when decisions are based on large-scale data?
Current and recent projects
Data-driven Applications in Housing Design Studies, 2020
Project leader, in collaboration with Sam Jacoby and Ali Asadipour.
This project studies how data-driven approaches, including machine learning, can improve the quantitative and qualitative analysis and assessment of housing design and policy. Combining visual and statistical data sources on housing in London, it develops a novel methodology to automate the collection and processing of data on housing morphology and other characteristics, producing a database that can inform housing design and development strategy decisions. The project further develops a comparative analysis of how the relationships between development control, housing morphologies, and urban areas change over time.
Publications
Roussel, R. and Cani, M.-P. and Léon, J.-C. and Mitra, N. J. (2019). Designing Chain Reaction Contraptions from Causal Graphs. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 38(4).
Roussel, R. and Cani, M.-P. and Léon, J.-C. and Mitra, N. J. (2018). Exploratory Design of Mechanical Devices with Motion Constraints. Computers & Graphics, 74, pp. 244-256.
Roussel, R. and Cani, M.-P. and Léon, J.-C. and Mitra, N. J. (2017). Spirou: Constrained Exploration for Mechanical Motion Design. In: Symposium on Computational Fabrication (SCF ‘17). Cambridge, MA: Association for Computing Machinery.
External collaborations and activities
Reviewer:
(2019) CAD and Applications
(2018) SIGGRAPH Asia
(2017) Eurographics