SBIR Phase II: A Fully Automatic Rapid Prototyping System Using a Novel 3D Camera

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）二期项目将开发一种全自动快速成型（RP）系统，该系统集成了一种新型快速3D相机。RP系统将利用先前开发的高速相机，以每秒30帧的速度获取全帧3D图像，以及超精密RP机器。第二阶段将结合高速成像技术和超精密的液滴沉积喷墨RP技术，在现实的数字牙科办公室环境中进行操作。实验系统将获取三维牙齿图像，并实时生成亚毫米特征的牙齿部件。该系统有望打破当前许多RP应用中的瓶颈，即不能直接从任意形状的物体中获取数字3D模型。数字化牙科诊所的快速牙科治疗和正畸治疗将是该RP系统的早期商业应用。新一代的CAD/CAM牙科器械将被开发出来，用于在牙科诊所快速制造种植体、牙帽、牙冠和牙桥。新的RP技术有望彻底改变当前的牙科实践：所有程序，从牙齿轮廓的3D测量到完美配合的牙科部件的制造，可以在患者第一次就诊的半小时内完成，从而节省了牙医和患者的时间和成本。美国和欧洲有35万名牙医和2万家牙科实验室，3D牙科探针RP产品的潜在市场可能相当大。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will develop a fully automatic rapid prototyping (RP) system integrated with a novel rapid 3D camera. The RP system will utilize a previously developed high-speed camera, that acquires full-frame 3D images at a rate of 30 frames per second, and an ultra-precision RP machine. Phase II will combine the high-speed imaging technique and an ultra-precision droplet deposition ink jet RP technique for operation in a realistic digital dental office environment. The experimental system will acquire 3D dental images and produce dental parts in real-time with sub-millimeter features. This system is expected to break a bottleneck in many current RP applications, where acquisition of a digital 3D model cannot be made directly from arbitrarily shaped objects. Rapid dental treatment and orthodontics in digital dental offices will be early commercial applications of this RP system. A new generation of CAD/CAM dental instruments will be developed for rapid fabrication of dental implants, caps, crowns, and bridges in dentist's offices. The new RP technology is expected to revolutionize current dental practice: all procedures, from 3D measurement of teeth's profile to fabrification of perfectly fitted dental parts, could be done within half an hour at the first visit of the patient, thus saving time and costs for dentists and patients. With 350,000 dentists and 20,000 dental laboratories in the U.S. and Europe, the potential market for the 3D dental probe RP products could be quite large.