Robolithography Demo - Robot building a section of wall.

The movie we posted illustrates Robolithography (Robotic assembly/printing of 3D products).

The machine in this movie is actually just a CNC machine set up to place interlocking blocks into place. We like to use the term robolithography as it generally provides a more insightful view as to the machines functionality. CNC stands for computer numerical control. A CNC machine traverses thru the x-y-z planes by means of numbers provided to it. It's actually a bit more complicated...but that's the gist of it.

The machine in this picture is assembling a section of wall out of Zipblocks. Zipblocks are very simple building blocks that interlock by virtue of placement. When this section of wall is finished it will be moved into place and filled with concrete. This machine can build virtually anything out of Zipblocks. It only needs to be programmed and supplied with some Zipblocks.

Zipblocks are like giant toy-construction bricks that interlock on placement. People can easily use them as well as robots. They are ideal for use with robots as they are based on a cube and this makes it easy to manipulate blocks thru the x-y-z planes. As they interlock on placement...another ideal feature for use with robotics.

Zipblocks are inexpensive and simple to manufacture. They are made from only two parts...sides and lugs. Sides are simply long flat rectangular shaped pieces. Lugs are S-shaped pieces that are used to connect blocks together. To create Zipblocks of different lengths you need only to increase or decrease the length of side pieces and have an adequate supply of lugs. The size of the lugs remains constant among blocks of different lengths. The length of the sides is the only thing that changes.

The components required to create basic Zipblocks are incredibly easy to produce and assemble. Virtually any solid material can be transformed into basic Zipblocks with ease. The materials that one chooses to build blocks from will clearly be dictated by their use, costs of raw materials, durability, and many other factors. Zipblocks are so simple that you can make them out of plywood by making a few cuts and gluing or nailing a couple of pieces together.

What makes Zipblocks so appealing is the fact that you can transform raw materials into Zipblocks at very low costs and this transition adds a great amount of value to your raw materials in that they are now a very easy to use product.

To put things in perspective consider this scenario. Let's say that it costs $20 for a sheet of ¾ inch plywood and that it costs a factory $2 to transform one sheet of plywood into fully assembled blocks. In this case the transformation from plain plywood to Zipblocks generally speaking adds 10% to the costs of the raw materials. We can now visualize home improvement stores selling sheets of plywood for $20 and the equivalent plywood in bundles of Zipblocks for $22. Now let's say that you need to build a custom wall unit for your living room. Would you rather buy plywood and all of the other materials needed to build your wall unit and then go home and labor hard to assemble your wall unit or would you rather just buy the equivalent materials in Zipblocks and instantly assemble your custom wall unit in minutes without using a single tool?

Based on the above scenario it's clear that the transformation of raw materials into Zipblocks provides significant savings in time and in ease of use.

When Zipblocks finally enter the market we intend to offer convenient plans for DIY (do-it-yourself) projects like building dog houses, wall units, tables and etc. These plans will provide a manifest of the blocks needed as well as step by step assembly directions. More or less these plans will be similar to what you get when you purchase a toy-construction brick kit. What's more is that we anticipate the development of simple software programs that will generate block manifests and building plans based on drawings entered into simulated 3D environments.

http://www.zipblocks.com

Visit us to find out more about Zipblocks.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• green
• technology
• robolithography
• robot
• 3D
• interlocking
• build
• zipblocks
• invention
• sustainable
• recyclable
• waste
• wood

[gowerski]

with a name like zip blocks i would expect the blocks to come out a lot faster, as fed by the machine.

where do the diffferent sized blocks even come from? I think you need to look at the design of architectural drawing printers to .

its so cold in russia

[Zipblocks]

This animation is only a primitive conceptualization. Realistically blocks would probably be belt fed at high speeds...similar to the way a belt fed machine gun operates. Blocks would probably be much smaller as well...about the size of toy construction blocks. Smaller sizes would allow for more definition and easier manipulation at high speeds.

It's hot here in the Carolinas.  Hit 97 degrees today. =)

[astrialkil]

@gregbails4 A robot cost 100,000 dollars and lasts 10 years (10,000 a year) It does the work of 8 men ($30,000 each) $240,000, the owner spends 140,000 less his first year. That's $140,000 MORE profit for him (assuming hes paying slave wages) One of his 2 employees trucks it and both of his employees ( and probably him self) set up and tear down and clean up the job site after construction. People in the old days did it by hand because they had no other way of doing it. If they had robots....

[RayDandy]

@gregbails4 hate to disappoint you but thats false,your macho fantasy is unrealistic,the whole purpose of automation is to bring down cost , and it has been poven that it DOES,the same thing that happened in the agricultural industry will happen in construction,the costs you mention will certainly be less because it wont require as much man hours.

[gregbails4]

@RayDandy Are you really that stupid? Is this what the country is coming to? C'mon now, think about logistics here. The cost to purchase the machine, truck it to the job, set it up on the job, pay an operator to run it, pay to disassemble it and pay to truck it away... It would be much more expensive than having a crew of hard working men who built this country in the first place just do it by hand, the old fashioned way. BY WORKING MANUALLY! How would this be cost effective in any way?

[RayDandy]

@gregbails4 afraid? are you serious? its not about fear, its more efficient. are you afraid of losing your job? get educated and find another one.

[gregbails4]

screw this thing, i would knock the thing over if i saw it on the jobsite putting me outa work... Why does everything have to be automated? Are u people really that affraid of a little manual labor?

[tazmaniainc]

looks inefficient.

i see a attempt for a robot to replicate methodology a man would do it.

why not extrude the concrete instead of placing brick by brick ?

[120ohm]

That is an awesome idea and I'd love to work on a project like that. I'm an electronics hobbyist and very active on my schools robotics team. This machine is actually very simple when broken down. And would be fairly easy to build a midsized prototype that can put together his handheld blocks. I'd use aluminum extrusion that stuff is amazing. But like all good ideas this robot prototype would take money. Besides the blocks are so easy to use why do you even need a robot to do it?

[vighneshmisal]

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