Chapters authored
Advances in Large-Scale Robotic 3D Printing with Plastic Pellets
3D printing with robotics is reaching an unprecedented level of maturity both in the market and at a technological level. This paper discusses current applications of large-scale robotics applied to 3D printed real-scale final parts for the construction and product design industries, including state-of-the-art methodologies, technologies and applications. Furthermore, an in-depth view of technologies and applications developed by the author will be provided, including robot-end effector integration and the automated generation of machine code through an ad-hoc computer aided design to computer aided manufacturing (CAD-CAM) integration. This integration accounts for parametric capabilities and design-time feedback. Consequently, advances in the seamlessly integrated design-to-manufacturing workflow will be presented: (i) design (by means of employing parametric modeling software), (ii) geometry analysis (by means of ad-hoc machine manufacturing process simulations), (iii) CAD-CAM integration (by means of automated geometry processing and machine code generation), and (iv) manufacturing and testing (by combining 6-axis robots and large-scale plastic extruders).
Part of the book: Advances in 3D Printing