SBIR Phase II: Swarm 3D Printing and Assembly for Autonomous Manufacturing

小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目的更广泛影响是启用一种新的制造模式，该模式可以通过建议的集群3D打印和组装(SPA)平台实现制造的长期自主性，SPA平台是一种协调机器人组装的方法。第一个设想的应用是建筑预制建筑行业，该行业存在熟练劳动力短缺、周转时间长、制造预制模具的设备和操作成本高的问题。这项技术将进一步实现新的合作和自主制造模式。这个小企业创新研究(SBIR)二期项目实现了多个独立3D打印和装配机器人的协同工作。技术目标是改进目前的平台，技术重点领域包括：提高个人3D打印机的打印速度，完全自动化材料重新填充和构建印版布局，开发计划和调度算法以支持大规模SPA进行多作业打印，以及创建新的校准方法以提高打印质量。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势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 of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is to enable a new manufacturing paradigm that can enable long-term autonomy of manufacturing via a proposed swarm 3D printing and assembly (SPA) platform, a method to coordinate robotic assembly. The first envisioned application is the architectural precast construction industry, which suffers from a shortage of skilled labor, long turnover time, and high cost of equipment and operation for making precast molds. This technology will further enable novel cooperative and autonomous manufacturing modalities. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project realizes the cooperation of multiple independent 3D printing and assembly robots. The technical objectives are to improve the current platform, with technical focus areas of: improving the printing speed of individual 3D printers, fully automating material refill and build plate placement, developing planning and scheduling algorithms to support large-scale SPA for multi-job printing, and creating a new calibration method to improve printing quality.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.