3D Printers To Build Houses 305
gbjbaanb writes to point out an article in the Sunday Times describing two separate programs where robots are being developed to build houses. The Los Angeles project is farther along than the one in the UK, but the article provides more details on the techniques employed in the latter. Liquid concrete and gypsum will be sprayed from nozzles in a manner analogous to an inkjet printer. From the article: "The first prototype — a watertight shell of a two-story house built in 24 hours without a single builder on site — will be erected in California before April. The robots are rigged to a metal frame, enabling them to shuttle in three dimensions and assemble the structure of the house layer by layer. The sole foreman on site operates a computer programmed with the designer's plans... Inspired by the inkjet printer, the technology goes far beyond the techniques already used for prefabricated homes. 'This will remove all the limitations of traditional building,' said [an architect involved with the UK project]. 'Anything you can dream you can build.'"
Inkjet Plumbing? (Score:3, Insightful)
How do they do the roof? (Score:2, Insightful)
(I'm hesitant asking this question, it might be blatantly obvious to everyone but me.
Need to start somewhere (Score:5, Insightful)
I have a couple of domestic robots, the Roomba and Scooba. I still need a vacuum cleaner and a mop, but only to handle the fiddly bits (stairs, furniture, round the back of the fridge etc.). The vast bulk of the work is handled by the two robots. I view these projects in the same way - they're a good starting point and will do a large amount of the work, but you'll still need some skill and manual work at the end to finish things off.
I used to live in the Barbican in London...
I'm working there and posting from there now. You have my deepest sympathies, horrible place. I'm from Sheffield - up there we dynamite places like the Barbican, not slap preservation orders on them.
Cheers,
Ian
Brilliant news for the 3rd World (Score:5, Insightful)
Currently what happens is that -- in the urbunising of people -- most people tend to build with whatever materials they have available leading to shanty-towns all over Africa with people living in shack-like hovels.
If this technology is able to deliver, and deliver cheaply, we might just have one of the technologies needed to bootstrap Africa out of abject poverty.
The other major problem, education, might just be in the hands of the OLPC guys...
define build time (Score:2, Insightful)
Maybe the house can be built in 24 hours, but how long does it take to build the metal rails for the robots? Are the robots reusable or do we have to add the build time for the robots? How long does it take to program the robots?
The process can probably be optimized by firing the people who work on this project and replacing them by robots.
Re:Uh... (Score:0, Insightful)
Re:Brilliant news for the 3rd World (Score:3, Insightful)
Assuming that building lots of houses is going to kick-start the economy, you could do it far more efficiently by letting real people do the work. For money. But where does the money come from, for the labour and for the materials?
Aid?
There have been so many "simple solutions" it's just not funny any more.
Re:Brilliant news for the 3rd World (Score:3, Insightful)
Maybe. But if private property and rule of law was established instead of just dumping money, then people would be able to own their houses (and be relatively safe in the knowledge that a random warlord won't show up and take it), which again allows them to take out mortgages.
When people can lend money to build houses, they can choose other materials than banana peels and dirt.
Too good to be true? (Score:2, Insightful)
Second thoughts: Hang on a sec. Sounds too good to be true.
I'm having visions of street after street, suburb after suburb, of awful robot-built houses right now.
Re:A truly horrible idea (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually, the recipe for mold is insufficient insulation and improper heating/ventilation habits.
None of these have particularly much to do with concrete, other than concrete requiring a few more cm of insulation on the outside than bricks.
Maybe not A truly horrible idea (Score:3, Insightful)
Of course, I don't know how practical they are for everyday living, but I suspect they are no worse than typical modern rabbit-hutches.
The problem will be
find your building plot
get a design made
spend six months getting planning permission
spend another six months modifying to meet building regulations
a month preparing the site
organise the manchinery to arrive
put everything off for a week when the typical British weather opens up
then you can build in a day
somewhere in that sequence there should be the traditional
Andy
What will this do to housing prices? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Too good to be true? (Score:4, Insightful)
Intricate details, decorations, and such will be much easier, and cheaper, to do using these robotic constructors.
It would be easy to get the finished plans, and add every bit of baroque extravagance to your house using a CAD program, and being able to preview it real-time. Everybody will have a chance to be a Gaudí [wikipedia.org].
Comment removed (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:That seems overly optimistic (Score:3, Insightful)
Not a good news for Real Estate market (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:How do they do the roof? (Score:2, Insightful)
Cheapest, fastest thing I can think of is to use a balloon inside the room. Spray your ceiling from above, then deflate it.
Re:Too good to be true? (Score:3, Insightful)
(Because the real underlying complaint is "Not everybody has the same tastes as me, and the same high prioritization of 'taste' as me".... that will always find a way to manifest in some complaint.)