Tuesday, February 4, 2020

B4: 3D printing


The world is moving fast, and everything is being requested and delivered in a short period of time comparing that to the early decades. In construction sites, the buildings were built by hands then with the help of some equipment, and now we have what called 3D printing. Would this technology get our projects done quicker?
After what our professor showed us and talked about in class, I decided to do a research paper on 3D printing buildings, how long would it take to complete a project? What are the advantages and disadvantages? What are the limitations of construction materials?  What are the challenges?
After doing some research, I found it interesting to narrow the topic and focus on how 3D printing can be environmentally-friendly (sustainability) at low price using local materials like WASP which is an Italian 3D printed sustainable shelters.

One of the advantages that I liked about 3D printing is it could solve the housing crisis. However, it could cause an unemployment crisis. Other challenges aspects would be the construction location (topography) whether the machines can set up there to do the work or not, the weather conditions that are acceptable, how strong is the 3D printed building, and the limitations of building designs including scales.  



Some related sites that are interesting:



Comments:
1- Jake,
Your topic hooked me! Maybe because you are interested in Philadelphia’s future which the place we live and we are concerned about its future. In addition, I am from one of the Arabian Gulf countries and mentioning Dubai makes me attracted to what you will write about. Dubai is well-known for its developments and technology in all fields including construction. I’m also planning to make a research about 3D printing and Dubai one of the countries that started using this technique for their projects.

I agree that robotics may help a lot, but what do you think the future challenges are related to IB? What are some risks that robotics will not endure?

Good luck with your project!


2- Michael,
When I first read your post, the first thing that came to my mind was eQuest software which I think is similar to your project. I didn’t have any knowledge about Kaggle, but you made me search and read about it. You have a creative idea. If I know how this works, I would have joined you. I liked how you discussed your methodology and what difficulties you are facing. I think your project could be helpful for those you are doing researches on HVAC.
Your projects sound professional, interesting and really detailed. I can’t wait to see you presenting it to the class.


3- Manon,
We have something in common! My project is similar to your group’s. We both going to do research on 3D printing and sustainability. It would be interesting to know what is your point of view as an engineer on this topic. We would agree on some points but disagree on others which opens up an opportunity to discuss in class with our classmates.

2 comments:

Andrew Norris said...

Douha,
This is a very relevant topic and I remember reading an article about a contest in which students competed to develop a 3d structure that could withstand the atmosphere of mars. I think the possibilities are endless.

Larisa Parshakova said...

3D printing is the fast growing sector in technology nowadays. The whole process went from taking hours in order to print a tiny object to be able to print houses in matters of hours. I like that you don’t want to only concentrate your attention on positive aspects of 3D printing for construction business but also want to look into the human aspect and possible unemployment.