MIT engineers build load-bearing structures from tree forks dezeen.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dezeen.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Wood is becoming an increasingly popular building material, but the timber is harvested mainly just from the long, straight trunks of trees. Aiming to reduce waste, an MIT team has developed a method of also using a tree's load-bearing junctions.
Researchers at MIT have developed a novel approach for manufacturing load-bearing joints using discarded tree forks. Their innovative system combines numerical modeling, 3D printing and robotic automation to dramatically reduce complex, time-consuming machining.