Image: Impact Build

Impact Printing Robot

Impact Build3D Construction Printing, Off-site Prefabrication

Robotic head that fires excavated soil at high velocity to print dense, cement-free wall elements

1
Deployments: 1
Companies that ran it

How it works on your site

Impact Build, a Winterthur startup that grew out of ETH Zurich research, makes wall elements by Impact Printing: a robotic head fires semi-solid excavated soil at high velocity and compacts it, layer by layer, into dense cement-free walls without formwork. The head mounts on a gantry, a high-payload robot or an autonomous excavator, and the maker's software turns CAD models into robot instructions, production data and cost estimates. Mix design for the local soil, edge cutting and milling, plaster finishes and installation sit around the printing step.

3D Construction Printing

Layer Deposition (Printing)

The printing head fires portions of semi-solid soil mix at high velocity and compacts them layer by layer, so the wall's strength comes from mechanical compaction, with no chemical setting.Machine vision watches the material state during production and adjusts the process. The maker reports printing structures above 2.4 metres tall continuously, without accelerating the material.

Off-site Prefabrication

Component Fabrication (Panels, Frames)

Impact Build prints modular wall elements in a factory setup, with no moulds or formwork, then wire-cuts or mills the edges and interfaces so the elements join timber frames and existing prefabrication systems. Elements come in custom shapes, variable thickness and surface textures set during fabrication.

Image: Impact Build

Who has run it

1 deployment · 1 company · 1 country

Impact Build1 deployment

Will it work on your site

Speed: Vendor: extrusion throughput up to 1.9 m³ per hour on the current upgraded system, with a target operational rate of about 1.1 m³ per hour.
What it prints: Interior and exterior wall elements from excavated soil and other mineral materials, at densities comparable to masonry, cement-free. Custom forms, variable thickness and textures are set during printing.
BIM/CAD requirements: CAD models. The maker's software generates machine control code, production data and cost estimates directly from the digital model.
Environment: Factory production: a prototype factory for product development and small pilots today, with deployable units built to fit existing prefabrication plants or run as temporary project-based setups.
Generation: Developed from five years of interdisciplinary research at ETH Zurich. The maker describes its tool as patent-pending and its current system as upgraded.
Other capabilities: Wire cutting and milling for edges, outlines and interfaces. Surface treatments take common mineral and earth-based plasters for smooth or textured, coloured finishes.

As the maker states it.