Why this brick robot could be BETTER than 3D printed concrete

[Music] 3D printing has been one of the most revolutionary Technologies of the past few decades and it's starting to make its mark on the construction industry as well with the ability to print complex shapes and structures in a matter of hours 3D printing has the potential to transform the way we build our homes offices and even entire cities wholesome a Swiss cement manufacturer recently printed 10 houses in 10 weeks in Kenya they used a cobot printer and a proprietary material called Tech to print they are working to lower construction costs so that the 3D printed houses are 20 cheaper than traditional buildings icon one of the most popular 3D printing companies has begun construction on a set of hundred homes in Austin Texas the three to four bedroom houses range from a thousand five hundred square feet to 2100 square feet and will cost over four hundred thousand dollars they are built with icons Vulcan printer and their proprietary material called lava Crete when completed this will be the largest 3D printed community in the world now I have some reservations about the use of 3D concrete Printing and construction which we discussed in a previous video certain companies in this space have made questionable claims and misled the public on their true cost and advantages the use of proprietary materials expensive setup and dismantling and dubious building science claims are a few things that I'm concerned about but I still believe in the value and potential of Automation in the construction industry what if we are looking at the wrong type of 3D printers is there a technology or machine out there that is superior to these liquid concrete printers but doesn't get as much media attention Hadrian X is a blockling machine invented by fast brick robotics in Australia it builds structural walls Brick by Brick in outdoor uncontrolled environments it produces far less waste than traditional construction methods while improving site safety the robot can lay 200 bricks an hour approximately 10 times faster than humans fbr's technology turns digital Revit models into CMU block models to calculate the exact number and shape of bricks needed they use precise optimized and rectified Blocks made of lightweight aggregate concrete their blocks are 12 times larger than standard house bricks which drastically increases the speed of construction these bricks are transported to the job site on the back of a truck they are fed through a huge telescopic robotic arm that can extend 25 meters or 82 feet a special construction adhesive that is twice as strong as motor is applied to the ends of the brick with the aid of a laser tracking head the concrete blocks are placed at a precise spot on the wall the robot head is dynamically stabilized so it corrects for any interference or vibration in the Boom the Hadrian X system can build the structural concrete walls of a four bedroom two bath house in just 29 laying hours you might be asking the same question I did when I came across this technology where's the motor well there's no motor used between the blocks and there's no Concrete in the voids traditional CMU blocks have slight variations in Dimensions they're never identical motor acts as a bonding agent but it's also used to level the bricks and account for differences in height and length fast brick robotics uses rectified bricks that are cut down to exact dimensions they don't need to be leveled out you can build 10 stories by just stacking these bricks with construction adhesive another advantage of using adhesive is that it dries in 45 minutes as opposed to Conventional motor that takes days to dry buildings in areas that have high wind loads like Florida need extra reinforcement in those instances the voids can be filled with rebar and concrete to build a two-story home fbrs a concrete slab next to the structure and lifts it into place the Hadrian robot then continues to build walls on top of this slab building homes with this robot generates little to no waste there's no cutting on site no silica dust and no messy job sites this robot can accept any type of brick as long as it's within certain dimensional constraints it can print homes with Blocks made of concrete geopolymers hardened clay and other materials it's important to note that the robot only builds the interior structural walls of buildings humans still need to install the windows roofs plaster the interior and exterior walls or even build exterior brick facades there are a couple reasons why I think the Hadrian system could be superior to the 3D printed liquid concrete system we see so often the first is the advantage of a robot arm over a Gantry system a Gantry is the frame that supports a printer head as it moves along the X Y and Z axes this frame takes time to set up it requires solid fittings it needs to be perfectly level and it uses up space on the job site the Hadrian robot arm arrives at the job site on the back of a truck it doesn't require additional concrete footings or time-consuming calibration and it takes up less space on the site The Long Reach of the telescopic arm guarantees more flexibility and freedom of movement at the end of the project it can and simply be driven off the job site there's no dismantling needed I also realize that every time a Gantry system is bolted together disassembled and then bolted together at another site it goes through a fair amount of wear and tear the Hadrian robot arm doesn't have those issues another concern with 3D printed liquid concrete are building science risks like thermal protection and Water Management I think we're expecting too much from a single layer these printed walls are meant to provide structural support insulation and act as air water and Vapor protection Christine Williamson founder of the building science Fight Club explains this really well this technology gives us a cold joint every couple of inches so what's their strategy there has anyone done any testing on this and how are they addressing things like the window to wall interface these walls have what appears to be like a six inch cavity that can be filled with insulation so great but a standard 2x6 wood frame wall also has a six inch cavity for insulation so I'm having trouble understanding how this approach could possibly provide improved performance particularly with respect to Thermal bridging at windows and doors the Hadrian robotic arm system only prints the hidden inner structural core insulation is a separate layer as are the air and water protection layers on a lighter note the difference in appearance is another concern I stayed at icon's 3D printed house in Austin a while back while it was impressive there were certain quirks that can be difficult to get used to Tiny micro fractures in the concrete wall wobbly and uneven print lines rough joints at windows and doors and even dust collection on the layers on the flip side houses built with the Hadrian X look like traditional houses for Better or For Worse it's impossible to tell the difference both outside the house and inside this makes the technology adaptable to different cultures and Geographic locations before we move on to the final and most important difference cost I'd like to introduce the sponsor of this portion of the video skillshare I've been missing from my channel for a couple of months because I was recovering from burnout and I was trying to get my life together I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you sticking around and being patient with me I've been working on improving myself delegating tasks and working smarter I found skillshare's classes on mastering productivity by Thomas Frank particularly helpful it's given me tips on efficiency and Effectiveness developing a professional mindset and even templates skillshare's online learning community has thousands of inspiring classes to help you find your creative voice and style create passive income and even Be Your Own Boss if you'd like to check this out the first thousand people to use the link in the description will get a one month free trial of skillshare let's end this discussion on the two types of 3D printing with cost comparisons both Technologies are more expensive than traditional construction because they are still new still working at The Kinks and trying to scale up both printers require precise flow slabs with only three millimeters to five millimeters of variation which are a little more expensive the custom bricks that the Hadrian robot uses are also 10 more expensive than traditional CMU blocks in my opinion the most important difference between the two technologies is the mindset of the people behind them I invited Mike pivx CEO of FBR on my podcast and I was so impressed with his realistic and grounded approach he didn't make any outlandish claims about the Hadrian X Robot and he understands that cost is the ultimate deciding factor you know you've got to be better cheaper faster and you know if you can't be those things then your adoption is going to be very low yeah so we've focused ourselves on ensuring that we can bring a machine to Market that the industry wants needs and will be prepared to pay for from an affordability perspective the only thing that we can do really I believe is try and do things faster so that there's less labor cost involved and use less materials okay if we can do those two things someone somewhere is paying less for their home um you know and that that really can I think be our only real true contribution to that robotics is the Simplicity of that idea and well thought out execution makes their technology so powerful I believe 3D printed liquid concrete has a role to play in the future of construction but I'm not sure if printing houses is the answer like I said in my previous videos it seems to be a solution looking for a problem ultimately both Technologies are trying to address the growing problem of Labor scarcity they're trying to reduce injuries and make job sites safer they're trying to help us build faster cheaper and better I admire the passion behind both let me know what you think about these two 3D printers in the comments below also check out my entire conversation with Mike pivik on my podcast channel it's very enlightening I'll link it up here I'll also link my patreon page in the description if you can support me I'd really appreciate it a big thank you to everyone already supporting me and being patient with me don't forget to hit the like button subscribe button and the notification bell too thanks for watching see ya

Channel: Belinda Carr

Views: 199,858

Keywords: 3d printing, 3dprinting, automation, robotics, brick, construction, architecture, design, future, robots, green, ecofriendly, environment, environmentally friendly, products, technology, tech

Id: zezqko5dMKM

Length: 11min 31sec (691 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 28 2023