'Charlotte' The Spider Robot Could 3D Print Buildings On The Moon

Mankind has been trying to get back to the moon for decades, and it looks like NASA's Artemis project is on track to send the first crewed mission to the moon in over 50 years by mid-2027. But where will all the researchers do their studies and rest their heads? Building a residence or commercial space takes a lot of time, money, and energy — and that's just here on Earth. Fortunately, two Australia-based companies — Crest Robotics and Earthbuilt Technology — have been developing a semi-autonomous robot with 3D-printing capabilities named Charlotte, and are already in talks to get the automaton on the moon. 

Resembling a six-legged spider, the mobile printer is designed to construct a complete 2,150-square-foot home in as little as 24 hours. That's cool and all, but how is humanity going to efficiently deliver building materials to an Earth-bound satellite? The answer is, we're not: Charlotte is engineered to collect soil, sand, and recycled materials. The bot then feeds these collected bits into a fabric sleeve on its undercarriage, which compacts the materials into structural walls.

At this stage of the game, both NASA and AI SpaceFactory are already looking into shielding methods for protecting the bot's surfaces from radiation and micrometeoroids. There are also efforts underway to begin developing protective casings and pavements, using moon-based dirt and dust — referred to as lunar regolith — as the main structural component. We already figured out what's inside the Moon, so it was only a matter of time before we started putting the detritus on its surface to use. 

Dr. Jan Golembiewski, the co-founder of Earthbuilt Technology, said via Earth.com that Charlotte's streamlined manufacturing process allows the robot to "work at the speed of 100 bricklayers." Charlotte doesn't even have to worry about forging mortar joints, because its method of extrusion is continuous and computer-assisted. Its robotic appendages are ideal for lunar-based construction, too, as the legs are far less likely to be hindered by uneven terrain.

Charlotte isn't just some fancy Roomba with legs, though: it's essentially a scalable construction platform. Even just one of these bots working on its own could whip up structures and foundations in record time. So just imagine the scope of deliverables with entire teams of Charlotte bots working simultaneously. The tech behind Charlotte also promises drastically lower carbon emissions on Earth, since it bypasses traditional cement-based construction and leans heavily on whatever materials are nearby.  

Charlotte might be a future moon employee, but its first real gig could be reshaping the construction industry right here at home. A robot that can 3D-print entire neighborhoods in several days or weeks would be a massive win for the construction industry, especially as far as cost and emissions are concerned. And considering we're already facing a future where concrete doesn't require cement anymore, putting up a building may be a radically-different process sooner rather than later.