THIS 12-METER TALL 3D PRINTER IS FOR MAKING HOUSES

Kif Leswing  FUTURISM

In Brief An Italian engineering group called WASP has built a 12-meter tall 3D printer to demonstrate that houses can cheaply be printed using additive techniques. The Breakthrough The printer is called BigDelta and it’s the big brother to last year’s model, which was only 4.5 meters tall. It’s a metal printer, which works a lot like personal 3D printers, using a rotating nozzle/mixer to print structures by adding small bits of materials like clay or metal. Eventually, enough layers add up to form the core of a house.

The Implications If engineers could 3D print houses then it would an address a major worldwide issue: by 2030 it’s estimated that 4 billion people will have inadequate housing. Automating building houses using a process like this could go a long way to providing shelter for everyone.