Oct 22, 2015 | By Kira
Just a few days ago, we wrote about Iridescence Print, an art installation in Paris that presented an entirely new way of 3D printing full-scale architectural structures with minimal material and almost no spatial limitations, opening up new possibilities in 3D printing construction. Given the recent advancements in 3D printed construction and increasing demand for 3D printed housing solutions, we decided to look further into Mesh Mould 3D printing technology and other construction robots created by Gramazio Kohler Research and scientists at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich).
Utilizing an industrial robot equipped with a custom extrusion tool that can 3D print continuous mesh structures freely in space, Mesh Mould 3D printing allows for large-scale geometrically complex structures to be built on the spot, and is more time and resource efficient than the 2D horizontal layering of materials—the process most commonly used by construction 3D printers—since the material is brought directly to where it is required in space. The technology “enables a paradigm shift from layer-based approaches” and is “key to exploring the full potential of 3D printing in real-world architecture applications.”
To be more specific, in a construction rather than an art-installation context, the Mesh Mould research project could be used to concentrate on the fabrication of formwork—which is the temporary or permanent mould into which concrete is poured to form a wall or other structure. Indeed in construction, concrete, the most commonly used construction material, is almost always separated into its heavy structural mass and light, shape-defining formwork. By using Mesh Mould 3D printing technology to freely extrude polymers in space, precisely controlled by a robotic arm, workers could create highly complex, customized formwork directly on the construction site, in nearly any shape or size, and with zero material waste.
“A shift away from this outdated ‘one size fits all’ ideology towards a new fabrication paradigm based on flexible, robotic in-situ fabrication could promote an alternative tectonic that encourages variation and differentiation instead of being bound to geometric simplification, standardization, and repetition,” wrote Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler. “The feasibility of non-standard fabrication…leaves little doubt over its potential at the construction scale.”
In their ongoing research in robotics and architecture, Gramazio and Kohler also recently oversaw the creation of the In-Situ Fabricator, the first autonomous construction robot capable of laying bricks into pre-programmed structures. “It’s the first machine that can actually go on construction sites and build non-standard designs, meaning designs which can vary and adapt to the local conditions directly in the building site,” said Kohler. Based again on an industrial robot arm, the In-Situ Fabricator uses a 2D laser range finder to build a 3D map of the construction site, meaning that it ‘knows’ where it is at all times, and can quickly adapt to unforeseen circumstances, such as a dropped construction tool, or last-minute design changes. The benefits of a construction robot like this include faster and more accurate construction, as well as reducing the planning time required before building begins.
While it may seem like using autonomous Mesh Mould 3D printing robots to create the formwork and the In-Situ Fabricator to automatically lay-bricks would spell the end for actual human workers on the construction site, Kohler insists that this is not the point of their research—quite the opposite in fact. “I think this will become a game-changer in construction, I believe so. I think that in the next five to ten years we are going to see mobile robots on the construction site, but they’re not going to replace humans. They’ll actually collaborate with humans, so the best of each kind of skills come together.”
Both the Mesh Mould 3D printing project and In-Situ Fabricator require more testing and research, however they clearly demonstrate the feasibility of robotically printed mesh structures and the construction of non-standard designs directly on-site. Advances in 3D printing construction technology are culminating at an exciting pace, begging the question of when the technology will reach its peak, and real-life implementation will become a reality.
Posted in 3D Printing Technology
Maybe you also like:
- A simple technique for how to plate your 3D prints in copper or silver
- BioP3 technology may be the future of bioprinting human organs
- 3Ders interviews Joris Peels about the future of 3D print licensing
- Researchers expect to commercialize graphene 3D nano printers in three years
- New research leads to stretchable 3D prints that test structural strength
- Pyramidal shape algorithm removes need for 3D print material support
- Michigan Tech developed cheap and easy post-printing techniques for metal objects
- High acquisition and start-up costs are delaying investment in 3D printers, Gartner says
- voxeljet announces new Phenolic-Direct-Binding 3D printing method at Euromold
- Purdue 3D printing innovation capable of making stronger, lighter metal parts
- Waterford Institute of Technology launches €1.1m metal 3D printing programme
- A $9 million 3D printing research and development hub opens in Melbourne, Australia
What is the cost per square meter of 3D printed mesh? What is the square meter cost of a plastered/finished wall? See a worker apply the plaster/rendering - what is the rate for this skill? How much is the 3D Printer? How long to print a square meter of mesh? Only when this info is available can one truly ascertain the viability of the innovation and compare it with current construction cost and if it would reduce cost - otherwise it is just another novelty...
anw wrote at 7/24/2016 12:10:48 PM:
update! http://gramaziokohler.arch.ethz.ch/web/e/forschung/316.html
:D wrote at 11/22/2015 7:48:42 AM:
i think the idea is that this is a prototype for a future version which prints metal rebar, connected in 3d, so actually an improvement on existing 2d rebar required in building codes. in the example they are only printing vertical, would be nice if they printed supports in plastic with dual head, then printed the actual metal rebar, that way they can get the steep angles required for complex modern formwork. Also the plastic could fill in the solid walls on the exterior of the formwork, so when the concrete is poured, it doesn't spill out when drying.
3Ders.org provides the latest news about 3D printing technology and 3D printers. We are now seven years old and have around 1.5 million unique visitors per month.
