 | A major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject.(November 2024) |
 | |
| Industry | Industry Robotics, 3D Printing |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2020 |
| Founder | Ahmed Mahil Godfrey Keung Michael Stanley Shaun Heap |
| Headquarters | |
| Website | www.luyten3d.com |
Luyten 3d is an Australian, Melbourne based, robotics and 3D printers manufacturing company, that designs and manufactures AI mobile 3D printers and 3D printing mix for the building and construction industry. [1] [2] [3]
Luyten 3D was founded in 2020, by Ahmed Mahil, Godfrey Keung, Michael Stanley, and Shaun Heap. [4] [5]
In 2021 Luyten 3D developed the first mobile robotic gantry style 3D Concrete Printer in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere, named the PLATYPUS. [2]
In 2021, Luyten 3D, collaborated with the University of New South Wales (UNSW) designed and built the 3D-printed house called the ‘Heptapod’ in Melbourne, Australia. [6] [2] This marked the first building code-compliant 3D-printed home in the Southern Hemisphere, with the structure requiring two days for printing and one additional day for assembly of the printed elements. [7] The printed elements gained sufficient strength after 5 hours, resulting in significant reductions in production time and up to 80% savings in labor costs. [8]
In 2022, Luyten 3D collaborated with UNSW to develop a 3D printer and 3D printing mix to print lunar accommodations on the moon as part of Project Meeka. [9] [10] The project aimed to address two critical challenges in lunar construction: materials and lightweight building tools. Led by architectural designer Brandon Nelson, the project proposed high-strength cylindrical structures specifically engineered to withstand the harsh lunar environment through extensive simulation testing. [11] Academic analysis has noted that while Luyten's approach proposes using platforms and printers similar to terrestrial ones, this is one of several proposed methods for lunar construction, with some researchers questioning whether Earth-like printing platforms are optimal for lunar conditions. [12] The project represented part of a broader trend of startup companies entering the space exploration sector, with Luyten adapting its terrestrial construction technology for lunar applications. [11]
In 2023, Luyten 3D and UNSW received an Australian federal government $2.9 million CRC-P grant for the development of affordable and sustainable 3D printed housing. [13] [14] [15] [16] The collaboration included Hanson Construction Materials and focused specifically on developing 3D printed houses for remote Australian mining and other communities. [8]
In 2023, Luyten 3D partnered with US based company Alquist 3D, to provide them with its proprietary 3D concrete mix Ultimatecrete, for the printing of houses in the United States and Canada. [17] [18]
Luyten 3D Printed the first Indigenous Housing Home in the world, located in Melbourne in partnership with Aboriginal Housing Corporation Ilpye Ilpye in 2023. [19] The project, located in the Northern Territory, was designed to withstand extreme climate conditions using Luyten's proprietary Ultimatecrete material. The company has set a goal to construct 30% of housing in Australia's regional areas using 3D printing technology by 2030. [8]
In 2024, Luyten 3D demonstrated construction of a fully functional two storey house in 32 hours, using its Platypus X12 3D printer. [20] [21]
The PLATYPUS 1 is a mobile gantry-based 3D printer designed for medium-scale concrete printing applications. It features a flexible print volume of one meter in height and width, with a variable length determined by the user’s needs (denoted as N metres). [22]
The PLATYPUS X1 enhances the original design with an advanced wheel drive system for improved transportability. Equipped with laser sensors and a camera-based localization system, it utilizes AI-driven feedback control to accurately track and adjust the printer's trajectory during movement. [23]
The PLATYPUS X2 is an up-sized version of the original medium-scale concrete 3D printer, designed with a larger print volume of two meters in height and width, with an adjustable length of N meters. [24]
The PLATYPUS 4 is a large-scale concrete 3D printer with a print volume of four meters in height and four meters in width, designed specifically for constructing the walls of small, single-story residential units. [25] A variant of this model, with an expanded eight meter width, is specialized for printing slightly larger structures such as small townhouses or granny flats. Both versions offer the same structural integrity and material efficiency, while the variant provides additional flexibility for more spacious residential builds, making it well-suited for urban infill projects or modular housing developments.
The PLATYPUS X12 represents a significant advancement in the field of additive manufacturing for construction, specifically through its innovative use of a telescoping crane robotic system. This system integrates a vertical axis and two horizontal axes, with the first horizontal axis being telescopic and the second operating along a rail system on the ground. The design incorporates wheels at the base of the single-column crane printer, enabling autonomous mobility between print locations without external assistance, except when relocating to higher floors. [26] This unique configuration allows the machine to achieve a build volume of six meters in height, 12 meters in width and an unlimited length along the horizontal plane. [27] It is the first multi-story construction 3D printer deployed in the Southern Hemisphere. [28] The printer has demonstrated the ability to print two-bedroom houses in 22 hours. [8]
In 2022, Luyten 3D introduced Ultimatecrete, a proprietary 3D printable concrete mix. Independently tested and certified by the National Association of Testing Authorities, Australia (NATA), Ultimatecrete reportedly achieves a compressive strength of 82.5 MPa after 28 days. This achievement positions it among the strongest 3D printable concrete mixtures globally, and it is recognized as the first such mix developed and commercially available in Australia and the Southern Hemisphere. [29]
n 2024, Luyten 3D expanded its Ultimatecrete product line with the introduction of Ultra-Eco, a 3D printable concrete mixture designed with sustainability in mind. This new formulation incorporates recycled cementitious materials and achieves over 40% reduction in CO2 emissions through reduced cement usage, contributing to a reduction in the environmental impact of 3D concrete printing. [30] [31]
Luyten 3D utilizes and offers a proprietary slicing software, Phoenix, designed to complement its 3D printers. Phoenix enables the loading and preparation of 3D designs for printing on Luyten's construction printers, facilitating the seamless transition from digital model to physical structure. This software plays a crucial role in analysing the structural integrity of printed elements using Luyten's Phased Array Process Tomography System, providing valuable insights into the quality and performance of the printed components.[ citation needed ]
Luyten has identified several key advantages of 3D printing in construction compared to traditional methods: [32]
The company also emphasizes the importance of responsible technology deployment, particularly regarding safety and regulation. Luyten maintains that 3D printing construction should not be marketed as a universal solution to housing crises without proper consideration of local building codes, safety regulations, and technical infrastructure. They advocate for partnerships and guidance in regions without established construction regulatory frameworks to ensure safe implementation and maintain public confidence in the technology. [32]
A modular building is a prefabricated building that consists of repeated sections called modules. Modularity involves constructing sections away from the building site, then delivering them to the intended site. Installation of the prefabricated sections is completed on site. Prefabricated sections are sometimes placed using a crane. The modules can be placed side-by-side, end-to-end, or stacked, allowing for a variety of configurations and styles. After placement, the modules are joined together using inter-module connections, also known as inter-connections. The inter-connections tie the individual modules together to form the overall building structure.
Contour crafting is a building printing technology being researched by Behrokh Khoshnevis of the University of Southern California's Information Sciences Institute that uses a computer-controlled crane or gantry to build edifices rapidly and efficiently with substantially less manual labor. It was originally conceived as a method to construct molds for industrial parts. Khoshnevis decided to adapt the technology for rapid home construction as a way to rebuild after natural disasters, like the devastating earthquakes that have plagued his native Iran.
3D printing or additive manufacturing is the construction of a three-dimensional object from a CAD model or a digital 3D model. It can be done in a variety of processes in which material is deposited, joined or solidified under computer control, with the material being added together, typically layer by layer.
3D Systems Corporation is an American company based in Rock Hill, South Carolina, that engineers, manufactures, and sells 3D printers, 3D printing materials, 3D printed parts, and application engineering services. The company creates product concept models, precision and functional prototypes, master patterns for tooling, as well as production parts for direct digital manufacturing. It uses proprietary processes to fabricate physical objects using input from computer-aided design and manufacturing software, or 3D scanning and 3D sculpting devices.
MakerBot Industries, LLC was an American desktop 3D printer manufacturer company headquartered in New York City. It was founded in January 2009 by Bre Pettis, Adam Mayer, and Zach "Hoeken" Smith to build on the early progress of the RepRap Project. It was acquired by Stratasys in June 2013. As of April 2016, MakerBot had sold over 100,000 desktop 3D printers worldwide. Between 2009 and 2019, the company released 7 generations of 3D printers, ending with the METHOD and METHOD X. It was at one point the leader of the desktop market with an important presence in the media, but its market share declined over the late 2010s. MakerBot also founded and operated Thingiverse, the largest online 3D printing community and file repository. In August 2022, the company completed a merger with its long-time competitor Ultimaker. The combined company is known as UltiMaker, but retains the MakerBot name for its Sketch line of education-focused 3D printers.
D-Shape is a large 3-dimensional printer that uses binder-jetting, a layer by layer printing process, to bind sand with an inorganic seawater and magnesium-based binder in order to create stone-like objects. Invented by Enrico Dini, founder of Monolite UK Ltd, the first model of the D-Shape printer used epoxy resin, commonly used as an adhesive in the construction of skis, cars, and airplanes, as a binder. Dini patented this model in 2006. After experiencing problems with the epoxy, Dini changed the binder to the current magnesium-based one and patented the printer again in September 2008. In the future, Dini aims to use the printer to create full-scale buildings.
Open Source Ecology (OSE) is a network of farmers, engineers, architects and supporters, whose main goal is the eventual manufacturing of the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS). As described by Open Source Ecology "the GVCS is an open technological platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 types of industrial machines that it takes to build a small civilization with modern comforts". Groups in Oberlin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and California are developing blueprints, and building prototypes in order to test them on the Factor e Farm in rural Missouri. 3D-Print.com reports that OSE has been experimenting with RepRap 3-D printers, as suggested by academics for sustainable development.
Construction 3D Printing (c3Dp) or 3D construction Printing (3DCP) refers to various technologies that use 3D printing as a core method to fabricate buildings or construction components. Alternative terms for this process include "additive construction." "3D Concrete" refers to concrete extrusion technologies whereas Autonomous Robotic Construction System (ARCS), large-scale additive manufacturing (LSAM), and freeform construction (FC) refer to other sub-groups.
Henrik Lund-Nielsen is a Danish business executive and serial-entrepreneur. He is the founder of COBOD International A/S, one of the leading suppliers of 3D construction printers globally. Lund-Nielsen is an investor and founder of several Danish growth companies mainly within the 3D printing, and other technology based industries.
Ultimaker is a 3D printer-manufacturing company based in the Netherlands, with offices and assembly lines in the US. They make fused filament fabrication 3D printers, develop 3D printing software, and sell branded 3D printing materials. Their product line includes the Ultimaker S5 and S3, Ultimaker 3 series, Ultimaker 2+ series and Ultimaker Original+. These products are used by industries such as automotive, architecture, healthcare, education, and small scale manufacturing.
A 3D printing marketplace is a website where users buy, sell and freely share digital 3D printable files for use on 3D printers. They sometimes also offer the ability to print the models and ship them to customers.
Fused filament fabrication (FFF), also known as fused deposition modeling, or filament freeform fabrication, is a 3D printing process that uses a continuous filament of a thermoplastic material. Filament is fed from a large spool through a moving, heated printer extruder head, and is deposited on the growing work. The print head is moved under computer control to define the printed shape. Usually the head moves in two dimensions to deposit one horizontal plane, or layer, at a time; the work or the print head is then moved vertically by a small amount to begin a new layer. The speed of the extruder head may also be controlled to stop and start deposition and form an interrupted plane without stringing or dribbling between sections. "Fused filament fabrication" was coined by the members of the RepRap project to give an acronym (FFF) that would be legally unconstrained in its use.
Fusion3 is a Greensboro, North Carolina company which manufactures 3D printers for commercial and education use. Fusion3 3D Printers use fused deposition modeling to create three-dimensional solid or hollow objects from a digital model, which can be designed or produced from a scan.
In recent years, 3D printing has developed significantly and can now perform crucial roles in many applications, with the most common applications being manufacturing, medicine, architecture, custom art and design, and can vary from fully functional to purely aesthetic applications.
A variety of processes, equipment, and materials are used in the production of a three-dimensional object via additive manufacturing. 3D printing is also known as additive manufacturing, because the numerous available 3D printing process tend to be additive in nature, with a few key differences in the technologies and the materials used in this process.
On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing 2 (OSAM-2), formally known as Archinaut, was a technology demonstration project aimed at developing the necessary additive manufacturing technology to build large-scale structures in space. Phase 1 of the project started in 2016 and was funded by a NASA contract worth US$20 million; it was performed by a partnership between Made In Space (MIS), Northrop Grumman, and Oceaneering Space Systems. Its formal name was "Versatile In-Space Robotic Precision Manufacturing and Assembly System".
New Story is a non-profit organization that provides homes to people living with inadequate shelter. The organization was founded in 2014 and has provided homes for more than 15,200 people in Haiti, Bolivia, Mexico, and El Salvador. New Story and ICON, an Austin-based construction technologies company, built the world’s first community of 3D printed homes in Nacajuca, Mexico.
The Tecla house is a prototype 3D-printed eco residential building made out of clay. The first model was designed by the Italian architecture studio Mario Cucinella Architects (MCA) and engineered and built by Italian 3D printing specialists WASP by April 2021, becoming the world's first house 3D-printed entirely from a mixture made from mainly local earth and water. Its name is a portmanteau of "technology" and "clay" and that of one of Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities whose construction never ceases.
The reinforcement of 3D printed concrete is a mechanism where the ductility and tensile strength of printed concrete are improved using various reinforcing techniques, including reinforcing bars, meshes, fibers, or cables. The reinforcement of 3D printed concrete is important for the large-scale use of the new technology, like in the case of ordinary concrete. With a multitude of additive manufacturing application in the concrete construction industry—specifically the use of additively constructed concrete in the manufacture of structural concrete elements—the reinforcement and anchorage technologies vary significantly. Even for non-structural elements, the use of non-structural reinforcement such as fiber reinforcement is not uncommon. The lack of formwork in most 3D printed concrete makes the installation of reinforcement complicated. Early phases of research in concrete 3D printing primarily focused on developing the material technologies of the cementitious/concrete mixes. These causes combined with the non-existence of codal provisions on reinforcement and anchorage for printed elements speak for the limited awareness and the usage of the various reinforcement techniques in additive manufacturing. The material extrusion-based printing of concrete is currently favorable both in terms of availability of technology and of the cost-effectiveness. Therefore, most of the reinforcement techniques developed or currently under development are suitable to the extrusion-based 3D printing technology.
3D concrete printing, or simply concrete printing, refers to digital fabrication processes for cementitious materials based on one of several different 3D printing technologies. 3D-printed concrete eliminates the need for formwork, reducing material waste and allowing for greater geometric freedom in complex structures. With recent developments in mix design and 3D printing technology over the last decade, 3D concrete printing has grown exponentially since its emergence in the 1990s. Architectural and structural applications of 3D-printed concrete include the production of building blocks, building modules, street furniture, pedestrian bridges, and low-rise residential structures.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)