Aug.31, 2012
With the global industrial robot-system market expected to double to $41 billion by 2020, Quantum International Corp., a robotics innovation company is exploring the development of robots capable of building a complete house in a single day - with practically no assistance from human builders.
Pioneered by USC Professor of Industrial and Systems Engineering Behrokh Khoshnevis, a new kind of robot is being developed that can read an architect's CAD drawings and build a house using 3D printing technology. By applying successive layers of concrete on top of one other, the gantry-mounted robot can build vertical walls and even domed roofs.
"Robots of this kind could potentially dramatically reduce the time and money needed to build quality homes, including plumbing, electrical and HVAC conduits," said Quantum CEO Robert Federowicz. "These machines can theoretically work around the clock, needing only a constant supply of power and semi-liquid concrete. It's exactly the kind of robotics innovation that we're interested in helping to commercialize on a global scale."
The uses for robot-built housing are nearly limitless. Such homes could be rapidly produced as emergency and low-cost housing in inner cities and developing nations, or as military housing or even structures on the moon. And all for potentially 25 percent of the cost of traditional housing today.
"We envision this technology augmenting rather than replacing the traditional construction industry, potentially creating an entire new sector of jobs engineering, assembling, transporting and maintaining these robots. We already know that 3D printing and rapid prototyping work — this is simply a new approach we're exploring to preexisting tech."
3D-printable houses are only one robotics application that Quantum is investigating as it works to build market share in the booming worldwide robotics industry. The company is currently in talks with cutting-edge robotics developers all over the world to help deliver new innovations to market.
For more information, visit: www.quantuminnovators.com
Posted in 3D Printing Technology
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