Building on the Moon
How do you build a building on the moon? Using a combination of robots, computers, and innovative thinking, buildings can be built anywhere in the universe at a fraction of the usual cost.
We have a robot right now that can build a structure 15 feet by 20 feet, and I’m working on a new robot that will be able to build one 25 feet by 40 feet. The plan is to gradually expand.
If all goes well, a robot that can create a building in under a day will be commercially available in the next two to three years. Ultimately, you will be able to place a machine on a flatbed truck, assemble it, bring in the construction material, plug in your blueprints via a USB, and push a button. Simple as that.
For one, this will help raise the standards of living for people who cannot afford a home of their own. Using robots to build, in a single day, a home that could normally take a month to build, construction costs can be cut by as much as 75 per cent. People who could not normally afford a decent, dignified home will be able to live in one. It will change lives.
Such technologies may also change how we think about space travel. I’m now in Washington, D.C., at the invitation of NASA, which just gave me a grant to build structures on the moon. I’m going to design the basic infrastructure to create the landing pads, or hangers, for spacecraft that will protect them from radiation. The next stage will eventually be human habitat. The early concept is to use energy generated from solar panels to heat lunar dirt and rock that will be converted into solid, lattice-like structures.
As told to Great Futures.
Video courtesy of Behrokh Khoshnevis.
The robot that created that video is pretty sophisticated too.
Comment by Cindy — November 22, 2011 @ 2:48 am
[...] This is pretty cool — robots that could build facilities on the moon. [...]
Pingback by Transterrestrial Musings - Lynx — November 22, 2011 @ 3:32 pm
That’s going to be so cool, because now we can get rid of those millions of lazy carpenters.
Comment by Vladislaw — November 23, 2011 @ 6:38 pm
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