A Drone-Assisted 3D Printing by Crane Structures in Construction Industry

Additive manufacturing is a disruptive technology that is starting to be analyzed and studied also in construction industry. There are different approaches in its usage, and most of them concern the development of specific technologies, that are not always the optimal path to follow if environmental and energy related aspects are considered. In this paper a different paradigm to apply in the additive manufacturing exploitation in the construction industry is given. Starting from well studied and settled technologies like tower crane and drones, a simple, effective and already possible alternative for the usage of 3d printing at the real scale of construction is presented. A preliminary model is studied, its feasibility is investigated and the promising results of this first study are presented. Finally, the baseline and path for future investigation for the real development of this approach are enlightened.