The Mobile Gantry: A Robotic Architecture for 3D Printing Structures on Mars

Abstract

The additive manufacturing of habitable structures on Mars from in-situ resources will enable the low-cost development of Martian infrastructure in preparation for a large-scale human presence. To realize this potential, significant obstacles must be overcome across many aspects of additive manufacturing technology. In this research, a new robotic architecture for the 3D printing of habitats is proposed. This architecture, the Mobile Gantry, improves upon previous approaches in that it is capable of producing larger, stronger, and more capable structures. This architecture has the potential to outperform other common robotic architectures and opens the possibility of exciting new capabilities.