MIT Invents Robot That Can 3D-Print Buildings

Megalith

Megalith

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Not that anyone wants to live in a dome that looks like cream cheese, but it is nice to see more headway on speedy, automatic building construction. It only took what I call MIT’s “swivel bot” 14 hours to construct the framework for a potential hideout, which would be finished using concrete. The ultimate goal for these is automated development in remote regions such as Antarctica, or Mars, even. Real-life StarCraft?

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. This highly controllable arm can then be used to direct any conventional (or unconventional) construction nozzle, such as those used for pouring concrete or spraying insulation material, as well as additional digital fabrication end effectors, such as a milling head. Unlike typical 3-D printing systems, most of which use some kind of an enclosed, fixed structure to support their nozzles and are limited to building objects that can fit within their overall enclosure, this free-moving system can construct an object of any size.
 
Man, This would be awesome to build dome structures. But I've looked into the diy spray insulation stuff, and it is very costly, I imagine buying in bulk saves a lot, but still $$$
 
No roof. It's not even a complete ring. The comments are great. "MIT invents new and exciting redefinition of the word "Entire""
 
My Mom's been doing that with icing for, like, ever. Shrug. (How does it taste?)
 
Wasn't there a video on this site showing a russian company already doing 3D printed buildings?
 
This is the 3rd group on here in the last 1 - 2 years that have "invited" this technology. This has been done now by many groups, isn't anything new now.
 
Some are missing what's new here.

This appears to be the first MOBILE system, and the other home 3D printing solutions are stationary. To accomplish that, the device needs to understand precisely where it is, in order for the nozzle to accurately continue doing the job adding material after its moved. They didn't show it moving here, but that's supposed to be the key from what I understand, which means it could in theory print something the size of a football stadium, which stationary printers can't.

Another thing they show here is that instead of concrete, they are using a foam.

If you're somewhere remote where you have to transport your building materials, like Antarctica, its likely cheaper to transport this mobile 3D printer and those relatively small liquid containers that expand into much larger and well insulating foam. You also saw that it was able to create a horizontal shelf with that foam, which is something that concrete can't do, as it would just fall down due to gravity before hardening.

Certainly not something we would build our homes with, but has great potential for remote desolate environments.

What will be really revolutionary though is if they can manufacture high-rise printing technology, so that you'd just truck in a giant 3D printer, and it would just keep building up, and then climbing on what it built, and then building another floor, up and up!
 
I'm sure you're all thinking what I'm thinking in that they should be creating Synths. MIT should be as cool as CIT.

Nick_Valentine.jpg
 
Spidey329 said:
Yes, so I'm not sure MIT "invented" this. The tech has been in testing for years.
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Yeah.. with some funding I probably could have done better in high school.

We need a robot the can ride the buidling's walls as it makes them. No need for this oversized beast.
 
Don't really see the point or need for any of these machines.

Bare, raw walls are the cheapest, easiest to build part of a structure and can be made from most any material found just laying around if necessary.

Why bring a machine in to do just the easy part when the entire nearly finished and furnished building can be brought in, snapped together, plugged in to services, and be ready for use?
 
S-F said:
No roof. It's not even a complete ring. The comments are great. "MIT invents new and exciting redefinition of the word "Entire""
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rezerekted said:
It's a sort of igloo made from formaldehyde insulation with no roof = FAIL!
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I believe they do that part from the outside or can leave it open if you want a different type of roof put on it later after the walls are finished. The ring is left open for doors and/or windows as is needed.

Its also supposed to be able to work on Mars or the Moon for building structures remotely which will be slick if they can pull it off.

Jaer44 said:
Wasn't there a video on this site showing a russian company already doing 3D printed buildings?
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There have been a couple of different systems over the years. Some earlier ones use special concrete blocks that get laid up by a machine. Here is an example of one from 2014. Here is a 3D home printer that uses concrete in China from back in 2014 also.

Something like the MIT machine is already in use elsewhere. Though I believe they're using concrete directly instead of foam as a pour or spray mold. They're already making buildings using 3D printers in Dubai back in 2016 for instance.

The nice thing about the MIT machine is that the foam is cheaper and easier (smaller equipment that needs less power to run (runs off solar panels included with the machine, look at the pics), doesn't wear much as its used (pumping concrete is eexxpeennsiive for a reason), and is easier to haul to a site vs concrete printers (no tractor trailer needed)) to form up on site and can do double duty if its left in place as insulation after concrete (shot-crete normally) has been sprayed over it (assuming you don't mind a dome). As they mention briefly in the video the MIT machine's foam can also act as a pour form for more typical concrete and still be left in place as insulation on the inside or outside of the concrete depending on how you want to do things too.

It sounds crazy or strange but homes have been built since the 70's by hand (google airform membrane dome homes) in this manner and it'll produce a very strong and well insulated home for a lower cost than a typically built concrete block or form home would. They never caught on since they were all typically dome designs so they looked goofy to most people but they are out there. A few companies still do this sort of thing but not many for residential purposes. Some of the more modern ones can be made to look like a typical home but the cost goes up significantly for them so it kinda defeats the purpose of going that route.

It'd be nice if the MIT printer, or something like that, can form up a more typical looking but still much cheaper home. I'd think they catch on well. Lowering the cost of the home itself is great (and really needed these days...) but they're also generally very energy efficient to heat/cool.

Dayaks said:
We need a robot the can ride the buidling's walls as it makes them. No need for this oversized beast.
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The problem with that is that the 3D printing feed stock will be, by necessity, a fairly large and heavy amount of material. Even if you're using foam like this machine. If you're using concrete then that idea is straight out. Trying to put that on the printer so that it builds the walls as it goes is going to be problematic at best and you'll still end up with a large heavy machine. You also won't be able to do non-vertical parts (ie. sloped or flat roof) easily with such a machine either.

A boom mounted print head using a foam feed stock makes a whole lot of sense if you think about it. And this thing is large it isn't all that heavy or particularly huge compared to other construction equipment or concrete printers. The trailer size they have it on is common and they're using a light or mid sized truck to haul it. It doesn't have to be removed from the trailer either in order for it work which is nice due to the boom reach. It really is a better thought out machine then you're giving it credit for.
 
mesyn191 said:
I believe they do that part from the outside or can leave it open if you want a different type of roof put on it later after the walls are finished. The ring is left open for doors and/or windows as is needed.

Its also supposed to be able to work on Mars or the Moon for building structures remotely which will be slick if they can pull it off.


There have been a couple of different systems over the years. Some earlier ones use special concrete blocks that get laid up by a machine. Here is an example of one from 2014. Here is a 3D home printer that uses concrete in China from back in 2014 also.

Something like the MIT machine is already in use elsewhere. Though I believe they're using concrete directly instead of foam as a pour or spray mold. They're already making buildings using 3D printers in Dubai back in 2016 for instance.

The nice thing about the MIT machine is that the foam is cheaper and easier (smaller equipment that needs less power to run (runs off solar panels included with the machine, look at the pics), doesn't wear much as its used (pumping concrete is eexxpeennsiive for a reason), and is easier to haul to a site vs concrete printers (no tractor trailer needed)) to form up on site and can do double duty if its left in place as insulation after concrete (shot-crete normally) has been sprayed over it (assuming you don't mind a dome). As they mention briefly in the video the MIT machine's foam can also act as a pour form for more typical concrete and still be left in place as insulation on the inside or outside of the concrete depending on how you want to do things too.

It sounds crazy or strange but homes have been built since the 70's by hand (google airform membrane dome homes) in this manner and it'll produce a very strong and well insulated home for a lower cost than a typically built concrete block or form home would. They never caught on since they were all typically dome designs so they looked goofy to most people but they are out there. A few companies still do this sort of thing but not many for residential purposes. Some of the more modern ones can be made to look like a typical home but the cost goes up significantly for them so it kinda defeats the purpose of going that route.

It'd be nice if the MIT printer, or something like that, can form up a more typical looking but still much cheaper home. I'd think they catch on well. Lowering the cost of the home itself is great (and really needed these days...) but they're also generally very energy efficient to heat/cool.


The problem with that is that the 3D printing feed stock will be, by necessity, a fairly large and heavy amount of material. Even if you're using foam like this machine. If you're using concrete then that idea is straight out. Trying to put that on the printer so that it builds the walls as it goes is going to be problematic at best and you'll still end up with a large heavy machine. You also won't be able to do non-vertical parts (ie. sloped or flat roof) easily with such a machine either.

A boom mounted print head using a foam feed stock makes a whole lot of sense if you think about it. And this thing is large it isn't all that heavy or particularly huge compared to other construction equipment or concrete printers. The trailer size they have it on is common and they're using a light or mid sized truck to haul it. It doesn't have to be removed from the trailer either in order for it work which is nice due to the boom reach. It really is a better thought out machine then you're giving it credit for.
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It doesn't need to carry all the material on it and you can do any sort of angle you want.

Ever checkout how they make sky scrapers now? What I said isn't a new idea. A boom truck can only go so high and holding tolerance gets tougher.
 
Dayaks said:
It doesn't need to carry all the material on it and you can do any sort of angle you want.
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These machines only make sense financially when they can run unattended for a full job or more. If you need someone to constantly top it off with feed stocks, even if they only make min. wage, its not gonna work out.

And how will it print at any non-vertical angle? Remember if its using foam as its feed stock the foam won't be able to support much weight if you go non-vertical. You could use tiny bottles of foam precursor if you wanted I suppose along with a tiny machine to keep the weight down but then you have to constantly have the machine tended too. Not gonna work. If its using concrete as its feed stock then, again, it flat out won't work no matter what due to the cure times + weight issue.

Dayaks said:
Ever checkout how they make sky scrapers now?
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The machines and methods they use are very different. As is the budget for those machines too.

Dayaks said:
A boom truck can only go so high and holding tolerance gets tougher.
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A boom truck will go up high enough for multi story residences without issue. They aren't trying to build skyscrapers with it and to my knowledge none of the building 3D printing methods are capable of that since you'd need to be printing steel of a very high quality and strength to do so. Concrete alone will not do it. Neither will a sprayed concrete foam method either. Metal 3D printing has a long way to go before it gets practical for that sort of thing on a job site.

If you notice carefully in the pics the boom has the print head along with a mini arm attached at the end for fine movement even at full extension. Outside of windy conditions such a set up is probably fine out quite a ways.
 
Shame that the foam is flammable as hell, and produces toxic vapors when burning.
 
If you're worried about that (modern stuff has lots of flame retardants in it that greatly mitigates this issue) then you can put a ignition barrier and/or sealant over the foam to reduce or prevent that from being a issue.

I'd point out almost everything that burns releases toxic smoke and off gases while its burning to various degrees. Even wood, carpet, linoleum flooring, plastics, vinyl flooring, and Corian countertops can do this to a significant degree. That is part of the reason why you've always been supposed to hug the ground when escaping a fire.

A bigger potential issue with spray foam IMO is if they don't properly mix the agents together while spraying. Then it will silently release toxic gases slowly over time into the house. My understanding is when spraying it they're supposed to make sure its all set up correctly before they go hog wild and spray away but screw ups have been known to happen.
 
Spray foam won't work on the moon. It's needs relatively high ambient temperatures to cure. And it's disgusting stuff. Intumescent paint only extends the time it takes for the foam to ignite. It's still going to catch fire and in a big way. Many of the flame retardants in the foam itself that people are experimenting with a known carcinogens. When this stuff catches fire it's incredible poisonous. Even the soy based stuff. I have a good deal of first hand experience with this. Some municipalities make you register with the local fire department if you have SPF in your house so the know not to enter it in the event of a fire. It's true that PVC releases dioxin when burning and many other building materials do similar but the volume of carpet and drain pipe in a house is pretty small compared to a house full of SPF.
 
They're not going to use the common spray foam on the Moon or Mars with this thing. It'll be a different formulation so it can cure in that environment.

Most of the really dangerous fumes and fire issues are with uncured spray foam or the precursors. Once its cured you're relatively OK there, its no more dangerous than wood or carpet at that point in a home fire.

edit: for a footer with something like this they'd excavate a trench to the proper depth and width and spray in the foam to make the form, let it cure, and then spray up the form for the house shell. Depending on how big the structure is they could just pour the wall and footer at the same time too if they wanted. They didn't show that part but if you watch the video you'll see them briefly demonstrate a small digger attachment for this thing.

It looks waaay wimpy for digging in anything but the loosest softest dirt if you wanted to dig out a space for a footer but maybe the dirt on Mars or the Moon is super loose or something. On Earth you'd probably still need a Bobcat to dig out a trench for a footer in any reasonable time limit.

Heavy wind would be a issue on Earth but on Mars or the Moon it wouldn't be.
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Semi interesting idea if only for the chemistry involved.
However there are already brick laying robots, concrete printing robots etc.

Not to mention that this concept doesn't address building foundations and footings - what happens when the ground isn't level? Or there is ground movement? Wind? Rain? etc. etc..
 
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