3D Printers To Build Houses

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.'"

Comments

Inkjet Plumbing?

[mrshowtime]

Is the "printer" going to print out liquid gypsum plumbing and electrical work as well? I actually had to cancel my contract on a house because the builder laid out the plumbing a foot off, which to them was no big deal. I was lucky I caught them and did my own measurements after the slab was poured, otherwise I would have had a ticking time bomb regarding the plumbing and possibly severe drainage problems.

How do they do the roof?

[bir0]

After watching the video of a 3D printer posted a few days back, I don't really understand how they do the top of things. What do they do when the top is flat. I can understand the floor, but does the top of everything else above the floor have to be a dome? Will it be like living in Tatooine? (Tunisia?) Dome I understand, but how does a spray of concrete/gypsum defy gravity long enough to set flat?

(I'm hesitant asking this question, it might be blatantly obvious to everyone but me. :-/)

Re:How do they do the roof?

[snarkasaurus]

There's no way to "spray" or otherwise lay down an unsupported liquid slurry over an open space. Therefor you either have to spray it on the ground and lift it into place, or spray it over a form.

Cheapest, fastest thing I can think of is to use a balloon inside the room. Spray your ceiling from above, then deflate it.

Need to start somewhere

[mccalli]

It's true that these won't produce fully fledged ready to move into homes, but it's still a start isn't it? Providing the quality is good then I'm all in favour of moves like this.

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

[eugene_roux]

The biggest problem we have here in the third world, other than education, is housing.

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...

Re:Brilliant news for the 3rd World

[6Yankee]

Abject poverty = lots of cheap labour.

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

[dk.r*nger]

Aid?

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.

define build time

[picob]

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...

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...

[MicrosoftRepresentit]

It also requires the entire house is made of concrete and gypsum.

Too good to be true?

[mystery_boy_x]

My first thoughts: Wow! This could revolutionize, like, everything!

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:Too good to be true?

[vhogemann]

I think its quite the opposite,

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.

Re:Too good to be true?

[Jerf]

Yes. Expect the same people complaining about rows of houses that are too similar to whip right around to complaining about rows of houses that are too radically different at dizzying speeds.

(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.)

Re:A truly horrible idea

[Ihlosi]

Concrete is good for tropical and warm climates where rainfall is not too high, but in the UK where humidity is high most of the year it is a recipe for damp and mould.

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

[newandyh-r]

Concrete has been used to build some very attractive housing in the UK - not just horrible blocks. In the "Art Deco" (I think) period of the '20s some architects made excellent use of the material - especially it's ability to form smooth curves. See examples in the "Poirot" TV series, for example.
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 /. "profit", but I don't see it.

Andy

What will this do to housing prices?

[mrjb]

The machine builds houses in 1/200 of the time at 1/5 of the cost. Who wants to bet the price of houses will stay around the same level? Almost any random 2-bedroom house in the Netherlands costs a quarter of a million euros nowadays. The same size house sells around a hundred thousand in Portugal. In Canada, this price range can get you a 5-bedroom house. Based on these numbers, it would seem to me that the cost of building the house itself is just a minor factor in the price of a house.

Re:No rebar means no concrete

[jcr]

Concrete without rebar isn't concrete.

No.

Concrete without rebar is still concrete. It just isn't reinforced concrete.

-jcr

Re:That seems overly optimistic

[TapeCutter]

Speaking of optimisim, I don't think OH&S would be impressed if "the sole foreman on site" was the only person on site.

Not a good news for Real Estate market

[Anonymous Coward]

From the article:

"Compared to a conventional house, the speed of construction will be increased 200-fold and the building costs will be reduced to a fifth of what they are today," said Khoshnevis.