Frank, Gary and Mary gathered at a South Melbourne lot Friday morning to form a three-unit construction team charged with building two new homes for Habitat for Humanity. The robotic construction workers with their charming nicknames were the components of a new 3D printing technology being used to build housing on the Space Coast.
“Frank” is the 3D printer itself, hoisting a large mechanical arm back and forth as it pours concrete for the walls of the future home. He rolls onto construction sites on tank treads along with “Gary,” his little brother, who mixes and pumps the concrete. Rounding out the trio is the large material delivery truck, “Mary.” In all, the entire operation can be operated by a small team or even a single person.
Once built, one of the homes will be sold through Habitat for Humanity to former Cocoa resident Mariah Humphries and her 4-year-old daughter, Ava.
Apis Cor, a Melbourne robotics technology and manufacturing company has taken on the task of 3D-printing the two neighboring homes for Habitats of Humanity. Macedonia Community Development Corp. of South Brevard will lease one of the units to a low-income tenant.
Although they have built homes together in Brevard County, this will be their first project with Habitat for Humanity, which both groups are hoping can make affordable housing more efficient and accessible.
Anna Terry, executive director of Space Coast Habitat for Humanity, said she sees the 3D printing model as a potential blueprint for affordable housing going forward.
“This is the beginning of a future where innovation and compassion work hand and hand,” Terry said. “At Habitat, affordable housing is more than a roof over people’s heads. It’s about building the foundation of stability for life.”
Terry evoked a parallel between the technology being used Friday to advances in the past. In the same way nail guns have made driving nails more efficient than using a hammer, 3D printing may be the next step in building more housing quickly. “The future isn’t something to wait for but something we create together now,” Terry added.
Apis Cor CEO Stefan Safko envisions his company as being instrumental to alleviating the affordable housing crisis in the United States and Florida.
“There are around 4 million units of housing missing from the US market right now. A lot of builders don’t know how to catch up,” Safko said.
“Robotics in building is going to become very important,” he added.
Safko said the 3D printing technology used by Apis Cor can reduce weeks or days of labor to days or even hours. Apis Cor’s technology is capable of building a home’s wall in less than a day.
Making the project possible is funding from the city of Melbourne and other private donors. Last year Melbourne allotted $500,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding for the Space Coast Habitat for Humanity-Macedonia CDC 3D-homes project. The ARPA outlay will also fund construction of a third Habitat single-family home on Steele Street in Melbourne’s Booker T. Washington neighborhood.
Wells Fargo also contributed $300,000 to the construction costs.
Tyler Vazquez is the Brevard County and North Brevard Watchdog Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Vazquez at 321-480-0854 or [email protected]
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