Robot 3D Prints Furniture Out Of Old Refrigerators

The plastic used in the printing  is recycled from old refrigerators and other appliances. The chair is from a line of “Endless” furniture from Dirk Vander Kooij, and will be on display at Milan Furniture Fair next week.

The chairs are essentially fabricated from one long plastic string, made out of old refrigerators. The strings are woven by a robot as a 3D printing process.

Designer van der Kooij combined different techniques, and was able to design an automated but very flexible process. He taught a robot his new craft, drawing furniture out of one endlessly long plastic string.

This opened the possibility for van der Kooij to design in the good old-fashioned way, making a chair, evaluating, refining, making a chair, evaluating, refining and making a chair. Or developing an infinitely large collection of variations.

The low-res process in this video adds a ribbing to the chair that is quite appealing. In the future the resolution of such processes will improve, allowing for smooth and textured finishes as well.

http://www.dirkvanderkooij.nl/

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