In the future, robots will be used to erect buildings. MIT researchers are already testing such systems. Their robotic building 3D printer can build the basic structure of a building in hours. It consists of a tracked vehicle carrying an industrial robotic arm. The robot can handle a construction nozzle. This is a free-moving system that can construct objects of any size. The researchers used it to build the structure of the walls of a 50-foot-diameter, 12-foot-high dome.
Here is how it works:
the system is intended to be self-sufficient. It is equipped with a scoop that could be used to both prepare the building surface and acquire local materials, such as dirt for a rammed-earth building, for the construction itself. The whole system could be operated electrically, even powered by solar panels. The idea is that such systems could be deployed to remote regions, for example in the developing world
More information is available on MIT.
