Robots build houses in just 2 days, do you dare stay in them?

Buildings built entirely by robots take only a few days, are not slow, cheap and save materials. By then, would you have the courage to live in such a house?

With the development of technology, in the future, automation robots like the automobile assembly industry will gradually replace people in the construction field.

From 3D home printers from Apis Cor to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Laboratory, from startups to leading scientists, all aim at a digital revolution in this construction industry.

A brilliant future when robots build houses are both fast and economical

In July 2016, in a parking lot in California, a 15m-high, 3.6m-high building was erected in just two days, with a self-driving, robot-driven robot arm laying each layer of foam in 13 , 5 hours to temporarily turn into a giant yellow honeycomb shape.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology hopes that the Digital Building Platform (DCP), introduced in the robot science journal last April, will serve as a stepping stone for the construction industry in the future.

Experiment by Steven Keating's team.

According to project leader Steven Keating: "We have made great strides in the digital design process but have not been able to apply it in practice on the site."

Because many people still do not fully trust to assign human life to all kinds of automation machines.

Traditional methods are still selected for use with works with a shelf life of 50-100 years to ensure safety.

However, some research groups still dare to break this barrier. In last February, Apis Cor startup has launched a robotic arm plastered with fast-setting cement mortar to make walls and call it the first real 3D printing house.

The time to complete a house costing $ 10,000 (about VND 220 million) includes going all the way to a month, but building a wall only takes 1 day.

Besides, there is the fact that today's masons still have to do the most basic things: putting each brick on each other, by hand. And they are running inefficiently, as well as creating half of the big solid waste for the United States. Therefore, the primary goal that the robot technology is targeting is: reducing waste.

Difficulties when applying in practice

Anyone can see the appeal of this technology. The "3D printing" of walls helps engineers accurately predict the amount of materials and time needed, helping to reduce costs and manpower.

The University of Southern California is developing a similar system with the goal of reducing construction costs to suit millions of people in developing countries.

But technology is only part of a difficult problem."There are many other obstacles that exist, such as rules and provisions of building law." Concrete endurance tests created by Apis Cor have proven to be repeatedly subjected to the adverse effects of continuous weather. But this industry's top safety standard is still not ready to receive materials that have never been tested like old materials that have been used for hundreds of years.

Robots capable of computing help reduce material consumption to the lowest level.

Keating hoped that the new technology would gradually dominate the industry, instead of abruptly replacing existing methods."The first toddler steps can completely change the construction industry, but it can't make a big leap because it doesn't fit the techniques at the construction sites at this time."

Instead of building a building with dream materials, MIT chose to create molds to fill both conventional concrete and the material being tested, thereby comparing and demonstrating the ability to overcome. superiority of new materials, a method that has been applied for half a century of construction industry history.

The flexibility of the robot arm can free buildings from the old structure, creating soft curves.

The flexibility of the robot arm can free buildings from the old structure.

Keating also said that the demonstration presented to the public is just one of DCP's features: "I want to emphasize that we don't call it a 3D printer. This is a new platform, like your arm. People, its features are expandable, including clearance, cutting, surface treatment and welding ".

Machines cannot completely replace people

Alexander Schreyer, a professor of construction technology at the University of Massachusetts, agrees that 3D printing can be very effective, but also that it is not a comprehensive solution.

In construction, people always have to coordinate different techniques."The car industry can be mass-produced and customized according to consumer preferences, but that is not true for housing. People think that prefab houses are often less durable than they are built in transmission. " Mr. Schereyer adds.

A prefabricated house with full amenities.

But in the end, for economic reasons, people will make everything forced to improve. Any form of profitability would make investors pay attention, although now is not the time for robots and future materials to explode.

Future houses, whether they are 3D printed, or assembled, are considered by experts to gradually change in the future."I think the world will become more and more automation, including the construction industry, but it will progress more slowly than people think," said one expert .