construction
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Brimstone's decarbonized cement passes crucial third-party strength test
Brimstone, a major player in the industrial decarbonization field, just announced that its decarbonized cement has passed a crucial third-party strength test, bringing the dream of net-zero construction one step closer to reality. The company’s proprietary portland cement met the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) C150 standards for building materials, indicating that it can do everything traditionally-made portland cement can do with regard to construction projects.
HP's construction robot puts blueprints on site floors
HP has unveiled a robot that helps construction workers put blueprints on the floor much faster than they could themselves.
Volvo's self-driving loader prototype is based on a Lego model
Volvo has unveiled a self-driving loader prototype based on a Lego model — and it might hint at the future of construction.
Volvo's first heavy-duty electric trucks will hit the road in 2022
Volvo announced that it will be among the first manufacturers to start selling heavy-duty electric trucks in 2021, with volume production beginning in 2022.
Researchers create bone-inspired 3D-printed building materials
You may not think of your bones as buildings, but researchers do. A team from Cornell University, Purdue University and Case Western Reserve University believes that by studying the internal structure of bones, they may be able to 3D-print stronger construction materials for homes and buildings.
BILL-E is a cute robot that builds structures block by block
A new robotics breakthrough could revolutionalize how we build everything from airplanes to bridges and even massive superstructures. A team of researchers at the Massachusettes Institute of Technology's Center for Bits and Atoms have created a new type of robot.
Humanoid construction robot installs drywall by itself
If Japan's Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Institute has its way, construction workers might be a thing of the past. Researchers have built HRP-5P, a humanoid bot that can handle a variety of construction tasks when there's either a staffing shortage or serious hazards. The prototype uses a mix of environment detection, object recognition and careful movement planning to install drywall by itself -- it can hoist up boards and fasten them with a screwdriver.
These smart shoes alert you if your grandma falls
We've seen our fair share of smart shoes at CES in the past, including a pair you can "lace up" using your smartphone. And today, at CES, we came across some more interesting footwear. What you see above are the "smart shoes with falling alert," created by a French startup called E-Vone. As the name suggests, the kicks feature a system that will notify friends, family or medical services if the person wearing them happens to take a fall. The company says they're designed for older adults (like your grandma or grandpa), as well as construction workers, hikers or anyone who feels like they may require assistance if they're alone indoors or outdoors.
Faraday abandons its proposed $1 billion Nevada factory
It's starting to seem like Faraday Future is capable of just about anything that isn't related to the business side of being an automaker. The company's plans for a $1-billion Las Vegas production facility had been delayed before, but now the plant has been scrapped wholesale. The Nevada Independent reports that Faraday will now attempt to build something smaller than the initial 13,000-job factory thanks to hundreds of billions in frozen funds from parent company LeEco.
Drones help expand the world's busiest airport
Drones and airports usually go together like oil and water, but you can't say that about Atlanta's air hub. The city has formed a partnership with 3DR, Autodesk and engineering firm Atkins that has drones mapping Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport as part of a planned expansion. The key to making it work was Site Scan, 3DR's autonomous data capturing tech. The drones could capture 2D mosaics and 3D point scans while staying well away from the airliners -- no mean feat when they're flying between runways at the busiest airport in the world (over 100 million passengers per year).
World's first 3D-printed office opens in Dubai
The world's first 3D-printed office building opened this week in Dubai, Reuters reports. The 2,700-square-foot, single-story building was built in just 17 days using a gigantic, 20-foot tall 3D printer and a special mix of concrete, fiber reinforced plastic and glass fiber reinforced gypsum.
ICYMI: How cancer travels, true hoverboard and more
#fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-226789{display:none;} .cke_show_borders #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-226789, #postcontentcontainer #fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-226789{width:570px;display:block;} try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-226789").style.display="none";}catch(e){}Today on In Case You Missed It: MIT researchers discovered that cancer cells can unclump to squeeze through teeny capillaries, then reassemble as cancer clumps on the other side. Zapata Racing has a prototype of a real hoverboard that can fly just like the Green Goblin's, but only for 10 minutes at a time. And a smart toy for pets called PlayDate will let you play with your cat or dog remotely, by moving the ball around through an app and watching your pet's reaction. We also wanted you to see the video of some construction equipment in a Transformers-like battle, after the humans operating them got into some sort of argument and decided to settle it like Gladiators of road construction. As always, please share any great tech or science videos you find by using the #ICYMI hashtag on Twitter for @mskerryd.
The 'world's biggest' 3D printer will build emergency houses
The design team at WASP (World's Advanced Saving Project) will unveil what is being billed as the world's largest 3D printer on Friday in Rieti, Italy. Dubbed the "Big Delta," this enormous device stands roughly 40 feet tall with a 20 foot diameter. But despite its size, the Big Delta is extremely efficient and uses only 100 watts of power. Its oversized design allows the Big Delta to quickly and easily print low-cost disaster-relief housing. What's more, it can do so using locally-sourced materials (read: dirt and mud) which also acts to minimize construction costs. The WASP team also foresees employing this printer for non-disaster-related home building. According to a company release, the Big Delta help accommodate the estimated 4 billion people worldwide that will lack adequate housing by 2030.
Dubai building will be entirely 3D printed, right down to the furniture
The uses for 3D printing are seemingly endless. We've seen the tech used by doctors, to build cars and for construction. While parts of a building have been 3D printed before, the United Arab Emirates National Innovation Committee is working to use the method for an entire office building in Dubai. Working with WinSun Global and a few other companies, the committee plans to use a 20-foot tall 3D printer to make everything on-site rather than fabricate the pieces and have them transported for assembly. WinSun Global has already printed a six-story apartment building and a house in China. As you might expect, the structure is small, measuring 2,000 square feet.
This robotic bricklayer can build a house in two days
For all the modern tools and heavy machinery found on construction sites these days, one aspect has remained a decidedly manual labor: bricklaying. Just as they did 6000 years ago when masonry was first developed, today's bricklayers still perform their backbreaking work almost exclusively by hand. But thanks to Australian engineer, Mark Pivac, that could soon change. Pivac has developed what he claims is the world's first fully automated bricklaying robot, dubbed Hadrian (yes, like the wall).
San Francisco's One Stockton Street Apple Store gets a temporary fountain
Those of you who follow Twitter and Instagram were probably chuckling yesterday afternoon when folks in San Francisco started sending out images of a huge fountain next to the Apple Store at One Stockton Street. Twitter user @its__amandaaa (Amanda Hoac) took the photo above as well as a fun slo-mo video of the fountain in action that was featured on ABC7 News' Facebook page. The fountain isn't a new architectural feature for the store that's going to be closed when a new flagship Apple Store is opened; rather, it was a side "benefit" of construction work that seems to have been going on forever in the area. A construction worker apparently hit a fire hydrant with a piece of equipment, causing the waterworks to erupt until workers were able to shut it off.
Xsyon opens guilds, housing to F2P players
Hardcore indie sandbox Xsyon introduced a free-to-play option almost two years ago, but the restrictions were brutal. Free players couldn't build in or terraform the world, and they couldn't lead guilds, which the game calls tribes. (Originally, they couldn't even join guilds at all!) But as of this week, Notorious Games has lifted some of those restrictions. In a press release issued today, the studio explained, Starting this week, new players can join the Xsyon community and start their own tribe for free. Creating their own homesteads, new free players can shape the land explore the game's extensive architecture system on their own, without the aid of other game citizens! If you're a free player chafing at ArcheAge's housing restrictions, well, here's a sandbox willing to accommodate you.
Robot builders work together to create structures much bigger than themselves
If you've ever read a novel from Iain M. Banks's Culture series, then you'll know that builder-bots play a huge role in his vision of the future: A future in which houses, cities and even entire planets can be built on the cheap by armies of drones. In a very modest way, something like this is already possible, thanks to a team of researchers from Catalonia's Insitute of Advanced Architecture. They've created a prototype design for an "ecology" of mini robots, which work together to squirt out various materials that harden to create the frame and skin of a building. Wheeled Foundation Bots come first, building up the base layers, and then Grip Bots clamber up these structures to create further levels. The video after the break makes it all so sound very simple and inevitable, but it slightly glosses over an important fact: these bots can only build according to an architect's exact instructions. And, as any builder will repeatedly tell you, architects know almost nothing about how to actually build stuff. (At least, not until robots take their jobs too.)
Ambitious sandbox MyDream launches Kickstarter today
Sandbox fans, meet your next obsession. It's called MyDream, and it's marketing itself as a massive 3-D multiplayer open-world sandbox focusing on "creativity and collaboration." The game will include player-designed content it's calling "adventures," rewards for cooperation and teamwork, and player-constructed environments and structures. MyDream is currently in invitation-only private beta testing, but with the launch of the Kickstarter campaign today, all pledges over $5 will secure tester access. According to MyDream CEO Allison Huynh, the Kickstarter is intended to "help bring [MyDream's] vision of the final game to market" and offers backers rewards like flying and x-ray vision. [Source: MyDream press release]
EverQuest Next Landmark shows off its first building blocks
EverQuest Next is going to give players a lot of tools to make things, and EverQuest Next Landmark is all about making things without the restrictions of the full game. But what will you be making those things out of? We're glad we assumed you asked because the latest video from the game is all about showing off the building blocks players will have access to. First up on display: the tropical environment. It's only fair to warn you that the video is fairly short, so you won't be gleaning huge amounts of new gameplay information from it. You will, however, have a glimpse into how you'll be shaping an environment with nothing more than creativity and some tropical trees, complete with object rotation and careful building. Click on past the break to check out the whole video, and start thinking about what you're going to build when you get the chance.
