4 ms·

What about reinforcement? Is there any way to use rebar or mesh to make a stronger structure? It appears they can make a self-supporting arched roof shell, but

• tonylemesmer 12y ago
  Its a concept that they've proven can work by building a prototype. I imagine the logical next step would be to extend the concept by building a second prototype that would do something better than this concept. As you can see they've limited themselves to building axis-symmetric structures to ensure the robot can drive unimpeded. A large proportion of existing buildings have rectangular shapes which these robots would also struggle to build. Its an experiment!
• jsilence 12y ago
  I believe that very much depends on the printing material. It should be possible to use a concrete with very small fibers. These are called whiskers. Whether that is enough to build a bridge I don't know, but material scientists are doing amazing things with concrete.
• regularfry 12y ago
  You wouldn't use the same design techniques for these that you would for traditional construction. You probably could make a bridge to take light traffic (hell, these were being built well before rebar was invented), but it wouldn't look familiar. If you did want to go that way, though, I'd look at one robot to set up a rebar mesh, another to climb up that scaffold to form a mold around the mesh, then a third to compact a concrete pour between the two.