Could a combination of drones and XNUMXD printers allow us to build houses quickly?
Who are the most successful builders in history?
You can be understood if you claim that humans occupy this prestigious place. We build houses and skyscrapers at a dizzying pace, and cities can completely change their face in just a few years. But it is easy to forget that the human history of erecting solid structures is shockingly short compared to the duration of life on Earth. The bees existed here as early as 87 million years ago, and probably even then created beehives with complex structures. The termites that ran and multiplied on the earth many millions of years before, and are able to build high and solid mounds.
The insects, in short, were way ahead of us. True, today we are reaching levels of sophistication in architecture and architecture that bees and termites could only dream of, if they could dream at all. And there is still something to learn from them too. Hundreds or thousands of bees are involved in the construction of each new hive, which work together in perfect coordination - even though each of them has no intelligence on its own. What if we could operate similar tools - thousands of tiny drones, for example - that together could assemble an entire house in one day, in any region of the world?
On the way to their wedding, Dakari and his bride-to-be stopped at the place where their new home would be built. The village elder handed Dakarai the iPad, and the young man picked it up and looked through it in amazement. When he pointed the camera of the device forward, he could see on the screen a structure that did not exist in physical reality. He knew he was predicting the future: the iPad offered him a list of houses he could build on the spot, and he only had to choose which one would appear there the next morning. It didn't take him long to make the decision. He clicked on the confirmation rectangle on the screen, and heard above him the buzzing coming from dozens of drones that had just woken up for action.
It was time to let them work.
When Dakari and his bride returned from the wedding, the sun had already begun to rise above the treetops. The drones worked all night, in the moonlight, and the product of their labor was already clear: a small house with a bedroom, a kitchen, a small living room and a children's room. Before the eyes of the young couple, the drones continued to pump the wet concrete to attach it to the right places. Now that it was time to print the ceiling, several dozen of them positioned themselves directly in that area, creating a floating platform on which their friends could print the ceiling beams without it collapsing down. Other drones have already begun sanding and smoothing the walls of the building, preparing them for the color drones on the way.
Dakray thought about the past that the elderly told about, where buying a house was one of the biggest expenses in every couple's life. Now, thanks to robots, the cost has dropped to that of one large wedding gift.
Sound imaginary? Maybe not so much. British researchers recently decided to test the idea seriously, and created a small fleet of drones that are collectively able to print buildings. The bulk of the work is done by the printing drones - the BuildDrones as they are called - which are actually a flying XNUMXD printer. They print layers of insulating foam or concrete-like material, according to a plan of action shared by all.
The other drones in the fleet are called ScanDrones - scanning drones - and they are what they are. They constantly scan the created structure, to identify anomalies and changes and update the construction plan in real time. Together, the entire fleet functions as an autonomous swarm, without human control. The operator only needs to define in advance the shape of the structure he wants to create - and the drones will execute the plan.
All this is very exciting, but it must be admitted that the proof of feasibility itself is not particularly impressive. The researchers demonstrated the operation of the swarm by printing a relatively simple structure: a cylinder more than two meters high. They added and showed how the drones are able to build a large dome - at least virtually, with positioning and printing - as if in the right areas. Still, these proofs of feasibility were successful enough to be published in one of the most important scientific journals in the world: Nature[1].
For me, this is another advance on the way to using robots in the construction industry. A way that will lead, sooner or later, to construction that will be mostly autonomous. In easy-to-access areas and with sufficient space to work on the ground, we probably won't need drones. It would be better to bring larger and more stable robots, such as the massive XNUMXD printers whose use for printing houses has already been demonstrated in the past. The drones will probably be used more for printing buildings in unusual areas.
In which areas and in which situations would we like to print using such drones?
One option is printing in remote areas, which are difficult to reach by road. Mountainous areas, for example, or even places in developing countries where proper roads have not yet been paved. In the village of Dakray, for example, there can be a 'hive' of drones that come into action every time a new house needs to be built or the existing one renovated. They will be able to obtain the building materials locally, or receive them by air delivery from a particularly large drone that will bring them all the way from the capital city.
Very different drones will be able to print buildings even in the most extreme conditions: in outer space itself. They will not use propellers, but engines that release weak bursts of air to control their position in space. In this way, they will be able to comply with complex construction plans and create buildings - such as space stations, space vehicles and even spaceships - without the involvement of human hands. The materials will also come from the earth, but also from asteroids, the moon and any other celestial body we can reach. Or at least, we can send robots to it that can mine it for us.
None of this will happen in the coming years, but the technology that will enable these wonders is already here. It needs to go through many more improvements before it reaches the described level, but all this could happen in the current decade. Dakray will enjoy his first home at a price-cost close to zero in today's terms, and so will our children and grandchildren. Hopefully soon these days.
[1] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-04988-4
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