When I hear 3D printing being dismissed for printing shitty plastic toys, I yell on the inside. Yes it's a misnomer, and yes the media is mostly covering the most affordable machines. But the simplicity of the process, and the number of materials available is going to exponentially grow the applications in a very short amount of time.<p>Software is eating the world, and a 3D printer digesting material to make something new is the most direct and literal application of that idea.<p>At PrintToPeer we believe that the same software "operating system" will be able to control all 3D printers--regardless of the process or material--remotely through an API. The robots here are just a hardware "function" driving a subset of the process which could otherwise be made by a 50' tall 5 axis machine (if that were feasible).
There's no compaction, though. It just extrudes, toothpaste-like, and you hope it sticks. Like low-end little 3D printers.<p>Compare the Lil' Bubba Curb Extruder:<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJZMpu4MKn8" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJZMpu4MKn8</a><p>This is a slip-form concrete device. Notice how it has a mold around the area being extruded, and the concrete is forced into place under pressure, so there's compaction and good adhesion.<p>Combining the two concepts has promise. The little robotic machines need forms and compaction to get up to the routine quality of concrete work.
This is cool, but combined with this solar powered sand-using 3D printing project, I think this could be really amazing! Its an idea I day dream about a lot - it would be so awesome to have structures automatically built out of sand, without having to pay for energy.<p><a href="http://vimeo.com/25401444" rel="nofollow">http://vimeo.com/25401444</a>
What about reinforcement? Is there any way to use rebar or mesh to make a stronger structure? It appears they can make a self-supporting arched roof shell, but surely these things can't make a bridge that would take even light traffic...?
This is how I imagine we will 3d print structures in space, in conjunction with this jpl's metal printing tech <a href="http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-247" rel="nofollow">http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-247</a>
I've wondered for a long time now: If battery tech can improve enough construction might look like renting an army of thousands or millions of small worker bots, with a couple guys at the command truck, or whatever, coordinating the movement of dirt or the depositing of materials, each bot moving a gram or two at a time.
(warning: slightly off topic)
How cool would it be to automate ecological construction in similar ways? Straw bales, straw clay, lime render layer, maybe even compressed earth bricks?<p>Make that open hardware, and you have a real winner for society at wide.