Contour Crafting House Printer Nears Test

Contour Crafting (CC) is basically a "house printer;" when supplied with the proper instructions, it will "print out" a complete shell of a house. Technovelgy readers should be familiar with the work of Dr. Behrokh Khoshnevis from a previous article (see Contour Crafting: 3D House Printer for additional details on how the technique actually works).


(Robotic Contour Crafting Video )

According to a recent article in the TimesOnLine, a UK news site, Dr. Khoshnevis' Contour Crafting techniques will receive their first real world test in Los Angeles sometime in April of this year. The first prototype will be a watertight shell of a two-story house built in 24 hours - without a single construction worker on the job site.

Citing a 200-1 speed increase over traditional house-building methods, Dr. Khoshnevis particularly recommends his methods for use after natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina:

Contour Crafting is the only layered fabrication technology which is suitable for large scale fabrication. CC is also capable of using a variety of materials with large aggregates and additives such as reinforcement fibre. Due to its speed and its ability to use in-situ materials, Contour Crafting has the potential for immediate application in low income housing and emergency shelter construction

Read more about Contour Crafting (the site also has some demonstration videos); via TimesOnLine.

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 1/15/2007)

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