Houses on Demand: Bradley’s Latest Caterpillar Collaboration
Students at Bradley University were recently chosen to develop a prototype of an online 3D Printing Marketplace, through which consumers could browse, customize, and order 3D printed concrete houses and structures. If developed into a finished product, vendors would be able to upload digital architectural drafts for sale, and local contractors could enroll to have their services available to the consumer.
After meeting with the innovation teams at Caterpillar, computer science and information systems assistant professor Dr. Samantha Khairunnesa, determined there was a fantastic opportunity for her students. “It offered them a chance to gain real-world industry experience, deepen their understanding of software engineering theory, and apply that knowledge as they built the prototype.”
Students in Khairunnesa’s CS 390 course had the opportunity to work directly with Caterpillar to gather requirements, design and develop the prototype and demo it for the team.
“The team at Caterpillar was impressed with what my students built,” Khairunnesa said.
“This project incorporated what is known as ‘full-stack web development,’” computer science and mathematics senior Josh Lovell said. “That means we were responsible for designing the user side of the website and the database in the background, and maintaining all of the connections in between. Couple that with the collaborative nature of this project, and you get a very valuable experience for any aspiring software engineer.”
Lovell’s primary role was designing the layout of the catalog, in which customers can browse for different home designs. He has high hopes for the potential of this project.
“It has become increasingly difficult for Americans to buy a home,” he said. “My hope is that the 3D Printing Marketplace has the potential to make home construction easier, and therefore make home ownership more attainable.”
“Concrete 3D printing is the future of affordable and structural housing,” computer science senior Erik Streitmatter said. “I believe that a platform like this is an inevitability rather than a novelty, and it's an honor to be a part of the first steps.”
Streitmatter’s area of focus throughout the project was on account management and the backend interactions involving user account data.
“I was definitely thrown into the deep end of database management on this, but I’m grateful for the experience. I would highly recommend any aspiring CS developer go out of their way to work on projects like this. Bradley is a great starting point that teaches processes used by real CS developers in workplace environments.”
Streitmatter and Lovell both highlighted the deep collaboration between teams as a high point in the development process. They also showed excitement at the potential future of this project.
“I believe a platform like this will broaden people’s minds to the idea of purchasing 3D printed houses,” Streitmatter said. “The customization features exemplify the idea of a personalized home rather than purchasing a mass produced template. I don’t believe this will revolutionize the housing market overnight, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction, which is quite exciting.”
–Jenevieve Rowley-Davis
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