The nominations for the2021 3D Printing Industry Awardsare now open. Who do you think should make the shortlists for this year’s show? Have your say now.
Texan 3D printing firmICONhas raised $207 million, which it says will help “bring housing and construction into the modern world.”
由...领着Norwest Venture Partners, ICON’s Series B funding round takes its total investment raised up to $266 million. The move sees Norwest Venture Partners’ Jeff Crowe join ICON’s board, in return for providing it with the backing needed to accelerate the R&D of its technologies, scale its production capacity and expand its team of engineers, architects and operational leaders.
“Since our unveiling in 2018, ICON’s primary work has been maturing its technology from prototype to reliable, ready-for-the-world products and services,” said Jason Ballard, CEO of ICON. “This has required dozens of fundamental engineering, scientific and architectural breakthroughs, and we’re very proud of where we are today. We want to turn up the velocity in a major way and are ready to scale.”
ICON’s architectural backers
Norwest Venture Partners’ backing sees it join ICON’s army of architecture and home building investors, which have clubbed together to fund its expansion over the last three years. In October 2018,Oakhouse合作伙伴led the firm’sfirst $9 million funding round, which closely followed its erection of Texas’ first authorized 3D printed home.
Since then, ICON has scaled the application of its technology, working with non-profitNew Story建造拉丁美洲community of 3D printed housesin March 2019, before gaining another $35 million via a funding round led byModerne Ventures它用来推进其房屋建设功能，并开发新的家庭类型和设计。
在过去的一年中,公司的快速发展as also seen its technology adopted by U.S. military and aerospace clientele likeNASA, which recently commissioned it to develop anoff-world construction system。根据巴拉德（Ballard）的说法，图标现在通过使用其最新一轮支持快速扩展，并针对具有未来发展的明星，采取了适当的NASA启发方法。
巴拉德说：“我们将其视为阿波罗计划，以实现我们建立方式和满足最基本需求之一的未来的未来。”“我们预计未来几年的进步会有所更快，以帮助将住房和建设带入现代世界，并与人类最高的希望和价值观融为一体。”
“We’re going to accelerate the growth of an elite and diverse team of scientists, engineers, architects, operators and leaders, that is now over 100 and growing.”
扩展瓦肯3D打印
So far, ICON has been able to build more than two dozen homes in the U.S. and plenty more abroad, thanks to its proprietary Vulcan 3D printer. The machine effectively enables the faster and more flexible construction of homes than conventional building methods allow, and the company unveiled an upgraded“next-generation system”earlier this year.
Icon的新机器的构建量较大，打印速度为5-10英寸，其新机器的尺寸最高为3,000平方英尺，并且能够打印两倍。结果，该公司能够在过去六个月中解决越来越雄心勃勃的应用程序，包括建造four multi-storey buildingsin East Austin, which it has since listed on the U.S. housing market.
In aerospace, ICON has also made advances, leveraging its technology to produce the “world’s first”3D printed lunar launch padin March 2021, before working with NASA to create asimulated martian environment。The latter is set to host astronauts on a three year field test, in which the efficacy of NASA’s nutrition system will be assessed, as well as the long-term impact of living on the red planet.
Most recently, the company has expanded into new military areas as well, agreeing to3D print training barracksCrow将在偶像董事会的接纳之前，最多容纳72名美军，并在他进入Icon董事会之前，称赞了Vulcan的“开创性”能力，尤其是在创建低成本的房屋来解决他认为美国日益增长的住房危机时。
“图标已经在建造从无家可归者的单个家庭住宅到月球和火星居住的一切。”“但是，我们对Icon与房屋建筑商合作的机会感到特别兴奋，并严重影响目前困扰美国的住房短缺。”
“We’re thrilled to add ICON to our portfolio of innovative prop tech leaders, and look forward to partnering with the team in the years ahead.”
ICON’s housebuilding competitors
尽管ICON已成为新兴建筑3D打印领域的领导者，但其房屋建筑技术现已开始面临增强的竞争。例如，在加利福尼亚州Mighty Buildingshas developed a novel construction approach of its own, which it now plans to use to3D打印15套房屋in Coachella Valley.
同时，在德国小组利用了其中之一COBOD’sestablished BOD2 systems to erect a three-floor3D printed commercial apartment building。与强大的建筑物和图标建造的房屋不同，Peri Group是为租赁市场建造的，据报道将分为五个单独的公寓。
Just two months ago, the U.S. non-profit人类栖息地also deployed COBOD’s BOD2 machine to3D打印一个负担得起的家庭住宅。这座房子位于亚利桑那州的坦佩（Tempe），包括三间卧室和两间浴室，将由该慈善机构选择的一个贫困家庭生活。
The nominations for the2021 3D Printing Industry Awardsare now open. Who do you think should make the shortlists for this year’s show? Have your say now.
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Featured image shows a row of ICON 3D printed homes in Austin, Texas. Photo via ICON.
