Digital Construction Platform (DCP), Mediated Matter Group, MIT Media Lab

The list of materials that can be produced by 3-D printing has grown to include not just plastics but also metal, glass, and even food. Now, MIT researchers are expanding the list further, with the design of a system that can 3-D print the basic structure of an entire building.

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Neri Oxman and her Mediated Matter group at MIT have created a swarm of robots designed to rapidly build high-strength tubular structures by winding fibreglass filament around themselves.

Oxman and her team have developed a digital fabrication system, comprised of 16 robots and a separate design system used to control them.

Each robot in the swarm is identical and works simultaneously, using a fibreglass winding system to autonomously construct self-supporting composite tubes up to 4.5 metres tall.

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