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We’re covering a variety of applications in this weekend’s 3D Printing News Briefs, starting with construction. Then it’s on to automotive 3D printing and 3D printed drones. We’ll end with U.S. Air Force-funded FEA simulation work. Read on for all the details!
Rendering courtesy of Zuri Gardens
Automated additive construction (AC) startup HiveASMBLD, based in Houston, Texas, is working to build what it calls the first large-scale, affordable, hybrid housing development. Called Zuri Gardens, the 80-home development has broken ground, with its first 1,360 sq. ft. house set to go up in October; the project is anticipated to be completed in 18 months. HiveASMBLD is partnering with the City of Houston, developer Cole Klein Builders, architect Edi International, engineer Hec Alliance, and LP Building Solutions to build the development, which will serve households that earn up to 120% of the Area Median Income through Houston’s Affordable Home Development Program (AHDP). HiveASMBLD uses AI-driven design software, 3D construction printing, and traditional manufacturing to build cost-competitive, sustainable homes, and will blend AC and a proprietary low-carbon concrete with panelized construction technology by LP Building Solutions to build the homes in the 13-acre Zuri Gardens development.
“The community we envision for Zuri Gardens is modern, safe, and one that residents will be proud to call home,” said Timothy Lankau, Founder and Co-CEO of HiveASMBLD. “When completed using HiveASMBLD’s innovative technology, this 3D printed multi-family community will exemplify the future of residential affordable living. Zuri Gardens homes will feature high-quality finishes that are more durable and sustainable than traditional builds, playing a key role in energy efficiency while standing up to the extreme weather conditions Houston endures.”
The Czinger 21C represents a radical transformation of the manufacturing sector and the future of human-AI design and sustainable systems.
In 2020, automaker Czinger Vehicles launched its 21C hypercar, a fast tandem-seater featuring plenty of 3D printed parts. The brand had originally made plans in the near future to start building other, more conventional cars, like a Lamborghini Urus-like SUV and a four-seat Hyper GT concept, but those multi-model plans seem to have been dropped in favor of concentrating on the 1233bhp 21C and other hypercars. The 21C had an initial production run of 88 cars, but this sharpened focus means that the hypercar could have several “closely-related successors,” including one that’s more track-focused and another model with a more traditional seating arrangement. This new plan should take the company and its 3D printed hypercars “into and beyond 2035.”
“If you look at the portfolio, the Czinger brand needs to be something which is very high-end that has a sustainability to it. And I think if you want to chase the market trends [such as the current demand for SUVs], you’re going to find it tricky over the long term,” said Czinger’s CCO George Biggs in an interview with Autocar.
“If you look at brands over the past 15 years, certainly in the luxury space, who’ve had a very clear vision and execute against that vision, they really have had success. And I think from a hypercar perspective, we can bring a very, very different philosophy and concept that should appeal, and then you build upon that in a way that makes sense to that customer base.”
The hybrid drone gets a swim in the pool. Photo: Andrei Copaci, Aalborg University
Four bachelor’s students from Aalborg University (AAU) in Denmark used 3D printing and CNC technology to build a special hybrid drone that can operate both in the air and underwater. Over two semesters, Andrei Copaci, Pawel Kowalczyk, Krzysztof Sierocki, and Mikolaj Dzwigalo at AAU Energy worked to develop the waterproof drone as their final project, and they call it a “significant advancement in robotics.” The prototype device hovers in the air, and then dives into the water, where the angles of its propellor blades are remotely controlled so it can “swim” below the surface. Then, it can fly vertically out of the pool again and up into the air. The hybrid drone’s dual-function capabilities have the potential to be put to good use in a variety of sectors, such as defense, ship inspections, and search and rescue operations.
“The team has demonstrated impressive collaboration skills, creativity, and perseverance,” said Associate Professor Petar Durdevic from AAU Energy, who supervised the four students along with Associate Professor Mads Valentin Bram. “After countless hours in the lab, they transformed their idea into a functional prototype in just one year. It’s a remarkable achievement for an interdisciplinary student team.”
Heat map showing stress and strain distribution across the geometry under the applied load
The U.S. Air Force has awarded Continuous Composites a $1.9 million Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) contract to develop an advanced Finite Element Analysis (FEA) tool for its continuous fiber 3D printing (CF3D). Running through August of 2026, the contract will help the company to majorly improve the simulation of anisotropic composite materials. Most commercially available FEA solutions only work with isotropic materials, like metals, where the stress and strength responses are uniform in all directions. But CF3D composite materials are anisotropic, so their primary strength is based on the direction of the fibers. Traditional FEA software has a difficult time accurately predicting material behavior based on fiber orientation. Continuous Composites, together with expert industry partners, will develop a new FEA tool to be integrated into CF3D Studio. This new tool will ingest CF3D toolpath data in order to generate mesh representations that show material behavior, fiber orientation, and structural performance much more accurately, thus simulating how 3D printed anisotropic parts will react to real loads. The new software capability should help decrease development time and increase design reliability of complex composite parts that are used in mission-critical defense applications.
🏷️ p3d_feed“We’re solving a major gap in FEA simulation tools. Existing software only assigns a single directional property to each layer of composite material, but CF3D’s fiber steering requires a more dynamic approach,” explained Continuous Composites CEO Steve Starner. “Our new tool will accurately simulate how our parts will behave under various conditions, which is crucial for industries like aerospace and defense.”