Treffer: Investigation of Additive Manufacturing Using Industrial Robots

Conventional additive manufacturing platforms are controlled using G-code, a numerical control language used to define the process parameters and move- ment of the print head. First, a digital model of the desired shape is created using 3-D computer graphics software. Then the model is analyzed by software tools that generate the necessary G-code instructions to be used by a 3-D printer to produce the desired object. The goal of this research is to lay the foundation and develop the necessary tools to 3-D print custom objects based on the viscous extrusion process using industrial robots. The first task is to process a set of G-code instructions and exe- cute the coded operations with an industrial robot. This requires the coordination of the motion of the robot and the viscous extruder actuation. In this research, an Adept Python robot controlled using the Adept V+ language was employed along with two stepper-based custom viscous extrusion modules controlled by an Arduino board. A methodology was developed to transform the a set of G-code instructions to the V+ language while considering the coordinated motion between the robot and the extruder module. A customized stepper mo- tor control circuit and software were developed to control the extruder motors. The developed software and hardware tools were successfully implemented and demonstrated using viscous extrusion modules to fabricate a multi-material and multi-layer scaffold.