Innovative Future Construction

3D printing is such a futuristic way of producing and creating some object. It is quick, much more mobile and considered rather instant. What more it is customizable to your own preference, such an important aspect in our world today, an individual’s preference to a brand, shape, size or and even colour. Ever wonder what could 3D printing do for the construction sector? There is a new discovery of a material and method such as self-healing bioconcrete, with a 3D concrete printers and a new generation of solar polymers, construction will be made further convenient if not easier.

The research team in Loughborough University carrying out this project, being headed by Dr Sungwoo Lim, technologically improved a 3D printer that is capable to construct physical structures and objects straight from a given command to a computer. The process being carried out is known as addictive manufacturing whereby a specific type of concrete was established particularly for this procedure. This concrete is deposited accurately in layers under computer control. In the present day, a reinforced concrete bench that weighs at one tonne and a two-metre curvy panel was printed out.

The benefits to the construction industry with this innovation would be a decrease in waste materials, emitting lesser CO2 in comparison to a conventional concrete form building. Not only that, labour costs would also be further reduced, transportation of components and parts of a building would be lessen as printing of such materials can be commenced in an onsite factory.

To solidify this innovative idea, we could relate it back to pre-historic times where rammed earth was a process for making homes and forts for castles. Raw materials such as earth, chalk lime and gravel is compressed in forms of layer and later air dry. It has been a technique practiced to build mainstay in Africa for millennia.

Aggrebind is a company that cross-linked styrene acrylic polymer which increases the strength of soils from many variation. It was experimented with non-toxic treated soils and later grown in it. The results prove that the polymer was indeed effective with consistent and inconsistent materials which can be applied to strengthen adobe buildings. Thus this has opened a new approach to the construction sector, self-healing bio-concrete that can regenerate over the cracks using condensed bacteria within or mortar-less ‘bio-manufactured’ bricks made out of substance such as bacteria, urea waste or sand.

References:

Miller, G. (2011). Innovative materials developed for construction industry. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/sustainable-construction-industry-innovative-materials [Accessed 10 Jun. 2015].

Nano Ganesh Simplifying Farming

In India, there is approximately 14.1 million irrigation pumps for farmers to water their crops in remote areas. It seems like an easy job for them to just switch on the pump and their crops are taken care of. However not so simple, because not all of the time electric supply is available, only during the wee hours or odd timings of the day. Thus Santosh Ostwal created Nano Ganesh which is a water system for farmers to be able to take care of their crops from afar through their mobile phone. Ossian Agro Automation is an India based company responsible for this innovative idea. This idea came about when the Santosh Ostwal, co-founder of Nano Ganesh, witnessed his grandfather facing hardship caring and watching over his plantations.

The Nano Ganesh is a tool for a farmers to save time and energy by placing a modem attached to their irrigation pumps which allows them the mobility to switch on or off the pumps to water their crops. The traditional way for a farmer to care of their crops would be to walk over to the irrigation pump and switch it on and walk back from where they came from, however the time for them to walk over or drive to their desired pump location would take up a few hours especially for those irrigation pumps located in the outskirts. There is also a hazard warning when walking over to the respective pumps in the middle of the night where wild animals will be lurking the bushes in hope to counter the next prey, be it a farmer. With Nano Ganesh installed it assists the farmers to a more comfortable and convenient way of taking care their plantations. The Nano Ganesh was restricted to a radius of 10 kilometres from their pumps previously, though now they have upgraded the technology to support unlimited range permitting farmers flexibility to turn pumps on and off wherever they maybe with their mobile phone.

This innovation has the ability to monitor the availability of electricity to the pump as well as authenticate the on and off status of its operation. The benefit of such technology is cost-saving from wastage of water and electricity. In addition to that, over-watering would lead to soil erosion and nutrient depletion from the ground.

The Nano Ganesh can reduce the environmental and financial costs farming, it is reckon that farmers can recover the cost of this innovative technology in 11 days from conserving water and electricity expenditure. It is a very efficient and effective technology to assist farmers in today’s world. Nano Ganesh was able to help 10,000 farmers in India and is currently used in Australia and Egypt.

References:

Nourishing the Planet, (2015). Mobile Technology Helps Farmers save Time, Water, and Electricity. [online] Available at: http://blogs.worldwatch.org/nourishingtheplanet/mobile-technology-helps-farmers-save-time-water-and-electricity/ [Accessed 8 Jun. 2015].

The Hive

This blog is dedicated to all the working bees out there who we believe need technologies to make daily lives easier not necessarily faster. People are always on the go, major parts of the world are always out and about, just like bees. You see, every worker bee is important to the hive, every hive is important to nature, nature is important to us humans, like oxygen. We just can't live without bees. Without these mother nature's little helpers working their hardest everyday, we won't exist for long. With that in mind, think of the working bees who clock in and out everyday daily to fulfill their jobs and tasks because it may seem like it is small and unimportant to some but what they are doing makes a whole lot of difference to their company or their "hive" as well as the society. Same goes to bees, they are small but they do a whole lot without us realizing it.