System can 3-D print an entire building

"Tech could enable faster, cheaper, more adaptable building construction"

MIT researchers have designed a system that can 3-D print the basic structure of an entire building. The system consists of a tracked vehicle that carries a large industrial robotic arm, which has a smaller, precision-motion robotic arm at its end.

“ An Austin-based company is looking to change the home buying market by making houses more universally accessible.”

According to its website, ICON debuted the first permitted 3D printed home at South by Southwest (SXSW) in Austin on March 12, 2018, built using a prototype of a mobile printer that will have the ability to produce "a single-story, 600 to 800 square foot homes in under 24 hours for less than $4,000."

Structures built with this system could be produced faster and less expensively than traditional construction methods allow, the researchers say. A building could also be completely customized to the needs of a particular site and the desires of its maker. Even the internal structure could be modified in new ways; different materials could be incorporated as the process goes along, and material density could be varied to provide optimum combinations of strength, insulation, or other properties.

Ultimately, the researchers say, this approach could enable the design and construction of new kinds of buildings that would not be feasible with traditional building methods.

The robotic system is described this week in the journal Science Robotics, in a paper by Steven Keating PhD '16, a mechanical engineering graduate and former research affiliate in the Mediated Matter group at the MIT Media Lab; Julian Leland and Levi Cai, both research assistants in the Mediated Matter group; and Neri Oxman, group director and associate professor of media arts and sciences.

Reference:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170426183028.htm

https://www.chron.com/business/article/3D-printed-house-Austin-Texas-12749008.php