Watch This Robot 3D Print a Building Out of Spray Foam

Construction seems like an industry that, were I still living in Silicon Valley, I would be tempted to call "ripe for disruption." Researchers at the MIT Media Lab agree, pointing out in a paper just published in Science Robotics that construction "relies on traditional fabrication technologies that are dangerous, slow, and energy-intensive." Hey, sounds like a job for some robots, right? The Media Lab's paper introduces the Digital Construction Platform (DCP), which is "an automated construction system capable of customized on-site fabrication of architectural-scale structures." In other words, it's a robot arm that uses additive construction techniques to build large structures safely, quickly, and even (in some cases) renewably.