Working along with the Dansk AM Hub and roboticist Teodor Petrov, GXN has created a series of physical and virtual prototypes for 3D printing robots that “break the grid” of traditional additive manufacturing devices.

These drones could one day help repair the thermal envelopes of high rises.

Most 3D printers , no matter their size, operate in a pretty similar way: they move along a grid to deposit material, sliding on axes in a fixed manner within a frame. Even those with more flexible arms remain fixed at a point. GXN, the research-focused spinoff of the Danish architecture firm 3XN , is looking to change that, using high-tech robotics to “break the grid” and offer new possibilities in additive manufacturing.

Along with the Dansk AM Hub , a government-sponsored entity that supports experimentation in additive manufacturing, and MAP architects , GXN has been hacking printers—both mechanically and […]

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