Getting 3D-printing technology to work for construction has been a struggle for decades. But Platt Boyd and his team at Branch Technology are taking a different approach to free-form fabrication that is showing promising results.
Boyd founded the 3D-printing company in 2014 with a small team and a single programmable robotic arm. Rather than print out shapes layer by layer from a gantry-mounted nozzle, Branch’s robot prints skeletal frameworks of shapes based on Branch’s design software’s algorithms. This approach not only saves on material, but allows for Branch to print out unusual 3D shapes that can maintain structural strength.