3DCP Muskoka
Robot rescue? Muskoka company banking on technology to help tackle housing crisis
3DCP Muskoka aims to revolutionize the construction industry by printing homes faster, more sustainably
Can technology help solve the ongoing housing crisis in Muskoka?
Source:
Brent Cooper www.Muskokaregion.com
A regional company is hoping so.
Linda Reisman, the chief executive officer of 3DCP Muskoka said the two-year-old company has recently received a large 3D concrete printer with a robotic arm which extrudes concrete for building purposes.
The company is located in Gravenhurst and owned by Reisman, who is assisted by partner/chief technical officer Zohar Klevan and a staff complement of four others.
“We acquired (the robotic arm) because we wanted to be able to solve or help solve the housing crisis here in Muskoka,” she said. “We purchased this (Gravenhurst) property four years ago in order to build our home, and then we realized there was such a housing crisis. I was volunteering with Circles Muskoka, which is a poverty reduction group, and we realized that there was such a need for housing. With our robotic arm, we decided that we can help revolutionize the construction industry and be able to print homes faster, more sustainably,” she said.
The way the robot program works is that a home or project plan is coded into a computer. This computer is linked to the 3D concrete printer with a robotic arm that pushes out the concrete for the programmed plan to make a shed, garage, sauna or the walls for a home.
The hollow walls are made with the necessary conduits for plumbing and electrical in place as they are added during the programming. The home is then completed using regular construction finishes.
Reisman said the robot arm cost the company around $500,000 and is fixed on a trailer so it can be mobilized to any site for printing purposes.
“We can mobilize the machine in four hours’ time. We set it up on your site and we start printing walls. It’s a digitized process. We work with architects and engineers to come with their blueprint of what we’re going to build, and then we put it into the robot, and then the robot extruded the material,” she said.
Kelly Jones, the communications and marketing director for 3DCP Muskoka, said the concrete additive mixture used by the company is a Sika blend of cement aggregates and polymers plus additives.
“We are in talks with multiple research and development schools to produce a locally sourced mixture to print with. In terms of eco-friendly, 3D concrete printing is more environmentally friendly than traditional construction methods. The material used is often more sustainable than regular concrete, and the technique allows for less overall material usage,” she said.
She said there is also less waste material, and there are options for local material development.
“3DCP also relies on energy as opposed to fossil fuels, and the low print times make the technique energy efficient. Traditional builds use more waste, and the wood needs to be treated with toxic chemicals in order to remain sustainable. With a concrete-produced home there is no risk for mould or rot and can last anywhere from 50-plus years,” Jones said.
Jones said the biggest barrier the company has right now is collaboration.
“We don’t want to be builders. We want to work with local builders to get the walls up faster to alleviate the (housing) crisis. The barrier of being new is hard for bylaw and the National Research Centre (a federal agency dedicated to science and technology research and development) to understand. The process involves engineers to ensure safety … there are hundreds of 3D concrete homes in Europe, Mexico and U.S.,” she said.
Reisman, who said this 3D robotic arm is a first for Muskoka, stated the company is now in talks with many different individuals about the potential use of the program.
“We have developers who have come on board as well as builders that want to use our product to expedite their projects,” she said.
For more information on 3DCP Muskoka visit their Instagram here, email linda@3DCPmuskoka.com or call 647-282-5292.
