MX3D is a Netherlands-based start-up that researches and develops 3-D printing technologies. Later this year the company is planning its most ambitious project yet: Using 3-D printers to build a bridge over a canal in the heart of Amsterdam.
The MX3D team essentially takes everything you know about 3-D printing and turns it on its head. The traditional process would be this: Printers build objects from the bottom up by applying layer after layer of plastic goop from dispenser that shuttles back and forth along a horizontal plane. The end product has telltale layers that sort of resemble a topographic map. MX3D printers do not work that way, instead, the MX3D-Metal printer builds structures by ejecting small amounts of molten steel through a welding nozzle at the end of a 6-axis robotic arm — it can craft objects from any angle, rather than simply along a horizontal plane. As molten metal flows through the nozzle, it quickly sets, which allows the printer to produce straight lines, spirals or any other shape for that matter, out of thin air. For their bridge, two teams of two robots will be used. The teams would start on opposite sides of the canal and build until they meet in the middle, constructing their own supports along the way while moving forward on movable platform bases.
A New Frontier
The project could serve as a glimpse into what future construction sites might look like. Rather than workers in hard-hats and neon yellow vests, autonomous 3-D printers might be the new norm. If we can 3-D print a bridge, Gizmodo’s Maddie Stone points out, why not build a skyscraper with 3-D printing cranes? Although MX3D has tested their bridge-printing robots on smaller scales, they’ll likely to face new challenges. Their bots will have to contend with irregular terrain, changing weather conditions and other factors that are typically controlled in the lab. We’ll just have to wait and see if MX3D’s bridge leads to new possibilities for the technology……..
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Photo Credit: MX3D
One Response to “3-D Printers To Build A Bridge in Amsterdam”
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