Awesome Technology - 3D Printed Homes

I think that 3D printing technology will lead to a new industrial revolution, one in which highly customizable manufacturing will exist on a neighborhood (or household) level, one in which organic material - everything from replacement organs to a lunchtime sandwich - will be produced by this emerging technology.

In China, a company has printed 10 homes in 24 hours using 4 massive printers. Here's some highlights from Xinhua;

The stand-alone one-story houses in the Shanghai Hi-Tech Industrial Park look just like ordinary buildings. They were created using an intelligent printing array in east China's city of Suzhou. The array consists of four printers that are 10 meters wide and 6.6 meters high and use multi-directional automated sprays. The sprays emit a combination of cement and construction waste that is used to print building walls layer-by-layer. Ma Yihe, the inventor of the printers, said he and his team are especially proud of their core technology of quick-drying cement. [...] "[W]ith the 3D printing, we recycle mine tailings into usable materials. And we can print building with any digital design our customers bring us. It's fast and cheap," he said. Buildings made with 3D printing technology can spare construction workers from having to work in hazardous, dusty environments, he said.

We truly live in an age of wonders.