I-Corps: Swarm Three Dimensional Printing and Assembly Platform

这个I-Corps项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是加速3D打印技术的开发和采用。尽管3D打印在各个行业中的应用越来越多，但其广泛采用受到有限的3D打印能力和高成本的阻碍。这个I-Corps项目将探索一个新的swarm 3D打印和装配（SPA）平台的市场潜力，该平台采用一群移动的3D打印机和机器人来合作进行数字制造。由于模块化、灵活性和可重构性，SPA平台可以以相对较低的成本显著提高3D打印能力，这将促进3D打印和数字制造技术在不同行业的采用，如建筑、建筑、电影和医疗行业。SPA平台可用于构建数字化工厂网络，为地球仪的不同行业提供按需定制的数字化制造，为社会建立数字化制造基础设施。该I-Corps项目进一步开发了一种新型的数字化制造系统，即swarm 3D打印和装配（SPA）平台，该平台以相对较低的成本扩展了当前的3D打印能力。SPA平台由许多携带打印头的移动的机器人组成，这些机器人共同工作，根据数字模型打印和组装产品。与使用单个3D打印机逐层打印材料的传统3D打印技术相比，SPA平台将首先使用分块算法将打印作业划分为较小的打印任务，并将其分配给不同的机器人，然后通过调度算法进行无线协调，以并行和顺序完成打印任务，同时避免冲突。从硬件和软件平台的研究结果表明，该技术的承诺。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to accelerate the development and adoption of 3D printing technologies for industry use. Although 3D printing has been increasingly implemented in various industries, its broad adoption has been impeded by the limited 3D printing capabilities and high cost. This I-Corps project will explore the market potential of a new swarm 3D printing and assembly (SPA) platform, which employs a swarm of mobile 3D printers and robots to cooperate for digital manufacturing. Due to the modularity, flexibility, and reconfigurability, the SPA platform can significantly increase 3D printing capabilities at relatively low cost, which will facilitate the adoption of 3D printing and digital manufacturing technologies in different industries, such as construction, architecture, film, and medical industries. The SPA platform can be used to build a network of digital factories to provide on-demand customized digital manufacturing to different industries around the globe, establishing a digital manufacturing infrastructure for society.This I-Corps project further develops a novel digital manufacturing system, the swarm 3D printing and assembly (SPA) platform, which expands the current 3D printing capabilities at relatively low cost. The SPA platform consists of many individual printhead-carrying mobile robots working together to print and assemble products based on digital models. Compared to traditional 3D printing technologies that print materials layer by layer with a single 3D printer, the SPA platform will first divide the print job into smaller printing tasks using a chunking algorithm and assign them to different robots, which are then wirelessly coordinated by a scheduling algorithm to complete the printing tasks in parallel and in sequence while avoiding collisions. Results from research on both the hardware and software platform demonstrate the promise of this technology. Objects with dimensions larger than the printers themselves have already been successfully printed.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.