A single machine may be able to construct a couple of nicely designed houses per day." [1]. T hus, Contour Crafting could save on time, costs as well as on valuable resources.
L ow-income housing: Apart from natural and political catastrophes, another predicament that causes millions of people to live without proper shelters is poor economic condition. W ith an acute shortage of affordable housing, this problem is escalated further due to the rising population everywhere — particularly in developing countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America. A.
t the same time, rapid and unplanned urbanisation too is adding to the woes. A s a result, millions of people are forced to live under sub-standard conditions. W e in India are rather very well acquainted with these problems and the subsequent troubles faced while implementing the rehabilitation programmes for the slum dwellers, like in the city of Mumbai. G iven the alarming status of the housing problem, conventional construction methods are bound to be inadequate in meeting these huge demands.
O bviously, a new and effective method of construction like Contour Crafting technology will have to be considered for addressing the worldwide shortage of lowincome or affordable housing. 4. F uture Developments Many Researches address the application of Contour crafting in building habitats on other planets. C ontour crafting will most probably be one of the very few feasible approaches for building structures on other planets, such as Moon and Mars, which are being targeted for human colonization (Fig.6) [5]. F.
igure 6. Applicationof Contour craftingContour Crafting uses craneor gantry-mounted nozzles, from which building material — concrete, in the prototype now operating in his laboratory — comes out at a constant rate (Fig.7). M oveable trowels surrounding the nozzle mold it into the desired shape, as the nozzle moves over the work (Fig.8).Figure 7. Applicationof Contour crafting with concrete mixFigure 8. Applicationof Contour craftingfor the manufacture of structures of any shapeWith the advent of the 21st century, the human race is looking more confidently at establishing habitats on the other land surfaces in the solar system. I t may not be long before advances in space technology make it possible to live on the Moon or Mars.
NASA plans to undertake extended human missions to the Moon as early as 2015, with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods. N aturally, habitats have to be established on the lunar surface prior to any explorer or settler spending extended periods of time there. B eing a robotic technology, Contour Crafting has the potential to build safe, reliable, and affordable structures on the Moon. G.
iven this potential, Contour Crafting construction systems are being developed that will exploit in situ resources and can utilise lunar regolith as construction material. T hese lunar structures can include integrated radiation shielding, plumbing, electrical and sensor networks. D r Khoshnevis elaborates, «The ability to fabricate extra-terrestrial habitats, laboratories or manufacturing facilities is the key element for long-term human survival on the Moon or Mars. O ur proposal develops an automated in situ construction system that is viable, economical, practical and with applicability within a decade for Earth-Moon operations.» [2]. D.
r Khoshnevissays, «A significant impact of the technology will be on the elimination of slum housing, because it will offer dignified construction at one fifth the current cost of construction. C urrently, the population densities in the world are concentrated in poor areas where there is slum housing. I f we provide good shelter for those people, the standard of their living will improve, and with that, their healthcare and education will improve. I n fact, I believe that Contour Crafting is a crucial technology for India."[2]. I.
ndeed, developing countries like India in particular and the world in general cannot ignore Contour Crafting’s potential in quickly and efficiently alleviating housing problems. ConclusionThis report introduces a concept for a contour crafting construction technologyand system. Contour Crafting is an emerging technology that uses robotics to construct free form building structures by repeatedly laying down layers of material such as concrete. The models developed incorporate physical constraints as well as some practical construction issues. A methodology for efficient construction of building structures by Contour Crafting is developed. U.
sing this techology a single house or a colony of houses, each with possibly a different design, may be automatically constructed in a single run, imbedded in each house all the conduits for electrical, plumbing and air-conditioning. R esearches also address the application of Contour Crafting in building habitats on other planets. A reference List1. B ehrokhKhoshnevis.
Degussa AG Will Work on USC 'House-Printing' Project, Published: March 17, 2004 Available from:
http://motionbull.com/contourcrafting3/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/ISI.pdf [ 15 November 2015] 2. BehrokhKhoshnevis. NSF-Supported Researcher Builds «The Most Historic Wall Since the Great Wall of China» .Published: April 27, 2004 Available from:
http://motionbull.com/contourcrafting3/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/NSF.pdf [ 17 November 2015]3. Maragaret Wertheim. Robots That Build (but Still Won’t Do Windows). March 11, 2004, Available from:
http://motionbull.com/contourcrafting3/wpcontent/uploads/2012/08/NYT.pdf [ 15 November 2015]4.MaxGlaskin. Robot builder could 'print' houses. Published: 10 March 2004 Available from:
http://motionbull.com/contourcrafting3/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/newscientist.pdf [16 November 2015] 5. Meghan Stromberg, Can Robots Solve Labor Crunch? Published: September 05, 2003, Avaialble from:
http://motionbull.com/contourcrafting3/wpcontent/uploads/2012/08/Professional_Builder.pdf [ 16 November 2015].
