U.S. Researchers Find Way To "Print Out" Concrete Buildings

September 5, 2008 2:20 p.m. EST

Berkley, CA (AHN) - Researchers at the University of Southern California say they are working on a process to erect buildings in a few hours using a process that extrudes concrete for buildings from 3D computer assisted drawings.

Funding will come from construction-equipment globocorporation Caterpillar, says Behrokh Khoshnevis of USC.

They plan to use concrete instead of plastic for something called Contour Crafting that will someday produce a 2,000-square-foot, two storey home in only one day.

The process will also reportedly automatically insert wiring and plumbing as well.

Along with building houses, NASA is interested in the process to potentially be used to build on the moon, according to reports.

Equipment for Contour Crafting can already create a six-foot wall without any human beings, using a process that researchers compare to using ink to print a document, only this process extrudes concrete, clay or adobe instead of ink through the heads of this equipment to produce a 3D object.