I ran across yet another new concrete 3D printer manufacturer, this time in India. What’s going on here?
3DCP is still a new technology, but appears to be reaching the inflection point on the hockey stick growth curve. While there have been several manufacturers that have been around for a while, such as ICON and COBOD, lately there have been quite a few new entrants appearing.
One that I just noticed is India-based Tvasta. A news report in the Hindu BusinessLine said they had just finished developing a new 3DCP device called “Cedar”, in conjunction with 14Trees. 14Trees is a global construction company that uses 3D print technology. Previously we’ve seen them working with COBOD.
I checked out Tvasta’s website and found not only Cedar, but also a series of other 3DCP devices of different forms. Tvasta offers both gantry and robotic arm-style 3DCP equipment, and in multiple sizes.
Cedar seems to be their latest device, and it’s said to be “AI Ready”. They explain:
“Designed to make large-scale 3D printing in construction faster, more cost-effective, and easier to deploy globally, Cedar combines advanced hardware, material intelligence, and real-world construction expertise in one powerful construction 3D printer.”
This seems to mean that Cedar can “optimize mix designs using locally available materials”, and can leverage an AI that’s been trained on “thousands of mix combinations”. That implies that Cedar could be used pretty easily in many regions using local materials. That’s different than some 3DCP equipment, which insists on very specific mixes.
I’m glad to see that Tvasta is differentiating their new system with the AI feature. That’s because I continually see new 3DCP systems being announced, but they are all pretty much the same: gantry/robotic arm with concrete pump.
It seems that many companies want to get in on the 3DCP action while it’s heating up. That makes sense, but less so unless you differentiate your offering from the dozens of others that follow.
This reminds me of the time I walked through a 3D print event and saw dozens of large metal 3D printers using the LPBF process. They were produced by manufacturers I hadn’t heard of. However, many of them were actually CNC equipment makers, and they had decided to cash in on the metal 3D printing boom by throwing together an LPBF system.
The problem is that they don’t necessarily understand the technology space as well as the more established producers. And it turns out that to produce high-quality metal parts with LPBF, you definitely need that experience.
The same story seems to be playing out in the 3DCP space: new entrants all the time using pretty much the same technology, all with limited experience in the space.
The way to succeed is to do something different to catch up to the more established producers, and that seems to be what Tvasta is doing with their Cedar system.
Via Tvasta/Cedar
