The average single-family home takes roughly seven months to complete, but MIT researchers have developed a cutting-edge system that does the job in less than a day. The team has designed an autonomous robot capable of 3D printing the basic structure of an entire building. Equipped with a precision-motion robotic arm and powered by solar panels, the machine sprays an insulation foam mold on the ground and then fills it with concrete – it completed the walls of a 50-foot-diameter, 12-foot-high dome in 14 hours. MIT has designed an autonomous robot capable of 3D printing the basic structure of an entire building. MIT's system is a massive robotic arm attached to a track vehicle.