<
https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/10/impact-printing-is-a-cement-free-alternative-to-3d-printed-structures/>
"Recently, construction company ICON announced that it is close to completing
the world’s largest 3D-printed neighborhood in Georgetown, Texas. This isn’t
the only 3D-printed housing project. Hundreds of 3D-printed homes are under
construction in the US and Europe, and more such housing projects are in the
pipeline.
There are many factors fueling the growth of 3D printing in the construction
industry. It reduces the construction time; a home that could take months to
build can be constructed within days or weeks with a 3D printer. Compared to
traditional methods, 3D printing also reduces the amount of material that ends
up as waste during construction. These advantages lead to reduced labor and
material costs, making 3D printing an attractive choice for construction
companies.
A team of researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH)
Zurich, however, claims to have developed a robotic construction method that is
even better than 3D printing. They call it impact printing, and instead of
typical construction materials, it uses Earth-based materials such as sand,
silt, clay, and gravel to make homes. According to the researchers, impact
printing is less carbon-intensive and much more sustainable and affordable than
3D printing.
This is because Earth-based materials are abundant, recyclable, available at
low costs, and can even be excavated at the construction site. “We developed a
robotic tool and a method that could take common material, which is the
excavated material on construction sites, and turn it back into usable building
products, at low cost and efficiently, with significantly less CO2 than
existing industrialized building methods, including 3D printing,” said Lauren
Vasey, one of the researchers and an SNSF Bridge Fellow at ETH Zurich."
Via
Fix the News:
https://fixthenews.com/276-nauseously-optimistic/
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
