Focus expands to locally sourced materials and blast-resistant designs for 3D Concrete Printing
State College, PA — September 18, 2025 — X-Hab 3D, Inc., a leader in mobile robotic construction systems, announced today that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has exercised the third-year option on its SBIR Phase II research and development contract. The extension will enable X-Hab 3D and its partners at Penn State University to advance critical innovations in locally sourced construction materials, blast-resistant mixtures, and protective 3DCP structural designs.
The additional year of funding will support:
Regionally tailored 3DCP mixes using widely available local aggregates, fillers, and supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) to achieve >5,000 psi strength while reducing cost and logistics burdens.
Development of X-Hab 3D’s Smart Toolbox, an integrated field-deployable system for on-site materials characterization and automated mix guidance.
Early-stage blast and impact-resistant mixtures and geometries for future DoD and FEMA performance benchmarks.
“This extension validates our progress and DARPA’s confidence in the dual-use impact of our technology,” said Bruce Kraselesky, CEO of X-Hab 3D. “By proving that locally available materials can be used to 3D-print strong, resilient structures, we are paving the way for logistics-light military construction abroad, while also offering cost-efficient, sustainable housing and infrastructure solutions here at home.”
The work directly supports Resilient Basing concepts for forward operations, while also enabling cost-competitive civilian applications in disaster recovery and resilient infrastructure.