Posted on 06/17/2015 9:36:21 AM PDT by Red Badger
The Hague (AFP) June 16, 2015
A Dutch startup has unveiled plans to build the world's first 3D-printed bridge across an Amsterdam canal, a technique that could become standard on future construction sites.
Using robotic printers "that can 'draw' steel structures in 3D, we will print a (pedestrian) bridge over water in the centre of Amsterdam," engineering startup company MX3D said in a statement, hoping to kick off the project by September.
The plan involves robotic arm printers 'walking' across the canal as it slides along the bridge's edges, essentially printing its own support structure out of thin air as it moves along.
Specially-designed robotic arms heat the metal to a searing 1,500 degrees Celsius (around 2,700 degrees Fahrenheit) to painstakingly weld the structure drop-by-drop, using a computer programme to plot the sophisticated design.
"The underlying principle is very simple. We have connected an advanced welding machine to an industrial robot arm," said the bridge's designer Joris Laarman.
"We now use our own intelligent software to operate these machines so they can print very complex metal shapes which can differ each time," Laarman said of the project also involving the Heijmans construction company and Autodesk software.
So far, the robotic arm has been used to print smaller metal structures, but the bridge will be the first ever large-scale deployment of the technology, MX3D spokeswoman Eva James told AFP.
It is hoped that the bridge will be a first step towards seeing the technique used on construction sites, especially those involving dangerous tasks such as on high buildings, she said.
The technique also removes the need for scaffolding as the robot arms use the very structure they print as support.
The designers are now in talks with the Amsterdam city council to find a site for the project which they hope will be completed by mid-2017.
"I strongly believe in the future of digital manufacturing and local production," said Laarman. "It's a new form of craftsmanship."
"This bridge can show how 3D printing has finally entered the world of large-scale functional objects and sustainable materials," he said.
Amsterdam city council spokeswoman Charlene Verweij told AFP the Dutch capital was supporting the project.
"We are still in negotiations as to where exactly the bridge will be built," she said.
Nice looking bridge too. So now we don’t need steelworkers anymore either.
Seems like it will take weeks to print a bridge that could have been prefabbed offsite and erected in a day with a crane.
A proof of concept, but not (yet) an advancement in efficiency or cost savings.
Prefabbing and shipping would take weeks, building place is usually more efficient. And building in place with robots that can work 24/7 and don’t get sick, drunk or stupid is more efficient.
Well somebody has to make the steel and deliver it..................
This is the sort of technology necessary for a Moon settlement/factory and especially colonizing Mars.
The robot machine needs to be able to ingest lunar or Martian regolith and use those raw materials to form construction members such as pipes, plates, glass, etc.
On Mars, gleaning oxygen and water from the atmosphere would be a must.
Mars has oodles of oxygen.
Iron Oxide.......................
With robots the likelihood of an building error is pretty small if the human designers get the numbers in their blueprints right.
But the downside is that this will put a lot of people out of work if it is too good.
What about when it rains?.................
“Mars has oodles of oxygen.”
No, there’s not very much oxygen. (per purdue.edu)
Mars atmosphere is mostly co2
carbon dioxide - 95.4%
nitrogen - 2.7%
argon - 1.6%
oxygen - 0.13%
carbon monoxide - 0.07%
water - 0.03%*
several trace elements
* varies by season and location
I read some Hogan books when I was a kid. Haven’t read that one though.
Not in the atmosphere, in the soil. IIRC my HS chemistry, freeing oxygen from Iron oxide is difficult but not impossible..........
I loved this one, and hoped it would be made into a movie someday................
Ah, I see what you mean.
I remember very little from HS chemistry except Hector’s (the chem teacher) huge yellow Pickett above the blackboard and his planed baseball bat that he used for giving the boys “licks”.
He loved to bend us over his desk and swing for the fences. It’s just what we had to deal with to get through chemistry.
The girls, on the other hand, were all his pets.
Carbon dioxide, 95% of Mar’s atmosphere, can also be reduced to elemental carbon and oxygen using UV lasers.....................
What is the compressive, tensile and shear strength of the material after it's "in place?"
How dumb is the general public, anyway?
I can’t answer your material questions but the knowledge and aptitude of much of the general public is as advertised on Watter’s World on the O Factor.
IOW, pretty dumb and certainly unmotivated to learn anything useful.
What will it be like to live on Mars? Inflatable and super sustainable
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2015/06/15/what-will-it-be-like-to-live-on-mars-inflatable-and-super-sustainable/?cmpid=NL_SciTech
I’m skeptical of what radiation shielding can be fashioned into an inflatable structure. I suppose it will be similar to the shielding used in current spacesuits and on the ISS. The thing is, though, that Martian travelers will be exposed to cosmic/solar radiation for much longer durations than the ISS personnel, whose missions are generally of the 6-8 month duration.
I expect that permanent habitats for years-long missions or for those that go to stay will be constructed underground.
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