Founded in 2019, Aeditive is a high-tech startup located in Norderstedt, next to Hamburg, targeting the booming construction 3D printing sector. The young company providing turnkey integrated robotic 3D printing solutions – based on the Concrete Aeditor system – to digitalize the construction industry, enabling all users of concrete to benefit from digitalization — regardless of their current technological competencies.
The company’s name “Aeditive”, combines the terms “additive manufacturing” and “aedificium”, which is Latin for building.
Concrete Aeditor is a combination of several ready-to-use elements integrating the entire end-to-end construction 3D printing process. It can output elements up to 11x4x4 meters in length, which include reinforcement and built-in parts. It works by implementing a proprietary process called Robotic Shotcrete Printing (RSP).
RSP is based on the classic and already normed shotcrete process. It can produce elements of excellent material qualities. The process has been developed by our team as part of their academic research. At its very core and center is the custom spraying nozzle developed by Aeditive. Traditional Shotcrete processes are already contemplated by European regulations, which reduces the hurdles to commercially implementing RSP.
The Concrete Aeditor system can integrate reinforcement from steel or other materials. That’s in fact one of the big advantages of the RSP process.
The concrete used in RSP is slightly more expensive than the ones being used in traditional construction. That is due to specific concrete additives. Nevertheless, this additional cost is compensated by eliminating the need for molds and by achieving a high degree of automation.
The Concrete Aeditor integrated system consists of six container modules and can be deployed flexibly and autonomously, both, offsite and onsite. After setting up the containers, it only requires connections for freshwater, wastewater and electricity.
Automated batching and dosing technology continuously provides fresh concrete to the process. Storage and refill processes are aligned with customer needs. Inside the Concrete Aeditor, one Kuka robot is responsible for applying the concrete. This robot carries Aeditive’s custom spraying nozzle. It is connected to the batching plant and constantly receives fresh concrete. A second Kuka robot conducts all supporting activities. This encompasses the post-processing of surfaces as well as positioning reinforcement. For us, automation does not end at adding the concrete.
The Concrete Aeditor comes with all hardware and software components required for its operation. Concrete recipes and material calibration are, too, included in the solution package. Simply turnkey. Thereby it can be used by existing teams without the need for extensive training.
Joining the multitude of robotic and cartesian construction 3D printing systems, the Concrete Aeditor will accelerate the process of going from plan to finished elements, through a fully digital process chain. Four years ago we predicted that the construction 3D printing segment would grow from just a few business cases to an industrial segment generating billions. With over 40 construction 3D printing hardware and service companies now active around the world, and hundreds of application cases, this growth seems unstoppable.
An integration with software tools from the BIM (building information modeling) category is also planned. The entire facility is provided by Aeditive to its clients on a volume-based billing business model.
