A prototype of Phoenix, Icon’s next-generation robot, builds a two-story structure in Austin.
Photographer: Thomas Allison/Bloomberg
This AI Architect Will Design Your Climate-Friendly Dream Home
A suite of new technologies from Austin-based startup Icon also includes low-carbon concrete and a robot that can 3D print two-story homes.
Giant robots made by Austin startup Icon began 3D-printing an entire neighborhood of suburban homes in late 2022; on Tuesday, the company introduced an AI architect to design them. It’s a technological leap that Icon says could one day spell the demise of cookie-cutter suburbia, ushering in an era of lower cost, lower carbon and climate-resilient homes in wildly novel forms.
That’s the promise, at least, of a suite of new technologies Icon previewed for Bloomberg Green as its machines finish construction on the world’s largest 3D-printed neighborhood, a 100-house Austin subdivision at Wolf Ranch for home giant Lennar Corp. The innovations, formally introduced Tuesday at SXSW, range from the AI architect to low-carbon concrete and a new robot that can 3D-print two-story buildings, roofs and foundations included.