IMPACT
Print
A robotic printing method developed at ETH Zurich for offsite and onsite low-carbon and circular, high - volume construction
Impact printing was developed as an interdisciplinary collaboration between Gramazio Kohler Research, the Robotic Systems Lab, and the Chair of Sustainable Construction.
In 2023, the project won the international 3D Pioneers Challenge in the category “architecture.” This prize is a yearly international prize in additive manufacturing, with a panel of international judges with expertise in additive manufacturing and technology
The problems:
The building industry is stagnating in productivity, is a major producer of global waste, and a generator of global 20 % of CO2 emissions. and there are significant labor shortages in this sector.
It is critical to develop more sustainable and flexible digital building processes, that rely minimally on skilled labor, that are circular without generating significant waste, and that minimize impact by reducing GHG emissions and air pollutants.
Coming soon: Low carbon building products
We leverage digital and robotic technologies to make sustainable and circular building products cost-competitive with existing market solutions.
A new type of printing
Impact printing is a novel robotic additive manufacturing method. A custom tool extrudes, portions, and projects dense mixed material at high velocities to enable enhanced bonding. Compared to extrusion based 3D printing, the process uses material in a much more stable state (high yield stress), so the process does not rely on a high percentage of additives to accelerate the green strength development.
On site construction.
Research background: On-site construction with autonomous mobile construction machines.
The hardware and software was developed to be moved easily from an offsite production scenario to an on site construction scenario. We have integrated our custom tool on an autonomous excavator developed by the Robotic Systems Lab, for in situ construction. In the future, this will enable construction in unstructured terrain.
The Chair of Sustainable Construction has developed a custom mix design that is primarily composed of a common by- product from the construction sector that would otherwise go to landfill. This means the material is mostly circular, and has a very low embodied CO2 per volume. A life cycle assessment LCA has been conducted considering both the embodied CO2 of the material and the production process.
A low- carbon and circular material.
Robotic surface finishing
Robotic Surface Finishing
Through teaching within the scope of the masters of advanced studies: Digital Fabrication, we have demonstrated that we can use a robotic troweling process and custom compliant hardware to achieve a high quality surface for future commercialization.
Awards
In 2023, the project won the international 3D Pioneers Challenge in the category “architecture.” with a panel of international judges with expertise in additive manufacturing and technology.
Jury statement: “This technology provides a fast technique for producing structures with soil and has the potential to reinvent the way we construct buildings sustainably, while also reducing CO2 emissions by 50% compared to low carbon concrete walls.”
Impact printing was developed as an interdisciplinary collaboration between Gramazio Kohler Research, the Robotic Systems Lab, and the Chair of Sustainable Construction at the ETH Zurich.
