Minimalism: For many Americans, autonomous sustainable living will have to come with numerous creature comforts, otherwise umPODS won’t be appealing. Without modular interior walls; baths with tubs, showers, sinks, and toilets; kitchens with stoves, refrigerators, garbage disposers, dishwashers, microwaves, and more; laundries with washers and driers, and of course comfortable beds, chairs, couches, TV’s, stereo sound systems, computers, heating and air-conditioning, umPODS wouldn’t meet minimal standards. What Americans perceive as necessities, many cultures consider luxuries. Building affordable umPODS for the impoverished will come, but probably long after meeting demands for the prosperous. Developing products that require expensive technology and a high degree of sophistication to build will not solve problems where labor is the only thing in abundance.
Without robotics, hand-built umPODS will be a challenge to build. Casting unishell modules by pouring concrete into forms will be much more labor intensive than spray casting with computer controlled robots. No doubt the first prototype umPODS will be built by hand just to test the feasibility of unishell construction. Reverting to pour casting in impoverished areas where cheap labor is plentiful will not make umPODS more affordable, but if labor is cheap enough, perhaps a practical stepping stone.
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