[Cob] Robot builder could 'print' houses

[bobodod at cox.net]

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Robot Builder Could Revolutionize Home Construction
By Max Glaskin
NewScientist.com
3-11-4


A robot for "printing" houses is to be trialled by the construction=20
industry. It takes instructions directly from an architect's computerised=20
drawings and then squirts successive layers of concrete on top of one other=
=20
to build up vertical walls and domed roofs.

The precision automaton could revolutionise building sites. It can work=20
round the clock, in darkness and without tea breaks. It needs only power=20
and a constant feed of semi-liquid construction material.

The key to the technology is a computer-guided nozzle that deposits a line=
=20
of wet concrete, like toothpaste being squeezed onto a table. Two trowels=20
attached to the nozzle then move to shape the deposit. The robot repeats=20
its journey many times to raise the height and builds hollow walls before=20
returning to fill them.

Engineer Behrokh Khoshnevis, at the University of Southern California, has=
=20
been perfecting his "contour crafter" for more than a year. "The goal is to=
=20
be able to completely construct a one-story, 2000-square foot home on site,=
=20
in one day and without using human hands," he says.

Now Degussa AG, of D"sseldorf, Germany, the world's largest manufacturer=20
and supplier of building materials, is to collaborate on the project to=20
help Khoshnevis find the best kind of building material.

Mud and straw

Khoshnevis has tested his prototype with cement but believes adobe, a mix=20
of mud and straw that is dried by the Sun, could be suitable. But Degussa=20
will be looking at other materials.

Gerhard Albrecht, head of research at Degussa's speciality materials=20
subsidiary, Admixture, says the company is ready to develop materials=20
specifically for the contour crafting technology.

Khoshnevis's prototype robot hangs from a movable overhead gantry, like the=
=20
cranes at ship container depots. Khoshnevis speculates that they could also=
=20
be ground-based, running along rails and able to build several houses at=20
one time. But it would be more difficult to create autonomous wheeled=20
robots that have sufficient accuracy and precision.

The first house will be built in 2005. If the technology is successful the=
=20
robot could enable new designs that cannot be built using conventional=20
methods, for example involving complex curving walls.

Greg Lynn, a leading architect from Venice, California, said. "I believe=20
that aesthetically there's a great potential to make things that have never=
=20
been seen before."

=A9 Copyright Reed Business Information Ltd.

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=3Dns99994764

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