Robotic additive manufacturing apparatuses, systems and methods
First Claim
1. A method comprising:
- generating robot control instructions using one or more inputs providing part geometry information and addition path information for a part, the robot control instructions executable by a robot controller to control a robot including a robotic arm and an additive manufacturing tool coupled with the robotic arm, the instructions including instructions to control position of the additive manufacturing tool and operation of the additive manufacturing tool to output additive material to produce the part;
operating an additive manufacturing simulation engine to execute the robot control instructions effective to generate a virtual part, the virtual part including virtual part geometry information and virtual part addition path information indicating characteristics of a material addition path resulting from execution of the robot control instructions by the simulation engine, at least one of the virtual part geometry information varying from the geometry information provided by the one or more inputs and the virtual part addition path information varying from the addition path information provided by the one or more inputs;
analyzing the virtual part geometry information and the virtual part addition path information relative to the one or more inputs;
if the analyzing indicates that the virtual part does not satisfy one or more conditions repeating the generating with a change to the one or more inputs to generate modified robot control instructions, repeating the operating with the modified robot control instructions to generate a second virtual part; and
if the analyzing indicates that the virtual part satisfies the one or more conditions, operating the robot controller to execute the robot control instructions to create a tangible part.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
One exemplary embodiment is a method comprising generating robot control code from one or more files including part geometry parameters, material addition parameters, and robot system parameters. The robot control code includes instructions to control position and material output of an additive manufacturing tool adjustable over six degrees of freedom. The method includes simulating execution of the robot control code to generate a virtual part file including virtual part geometry parameters and material addition parameters, analyzing the virtual part geometry parameters and material addition parameters relative to the one or more files, and executing the robot control code with the controller to produce the part with robot system if the analyzing indicates that the virtual part satisfies one or more conditions.
6 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method comprising:
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generating robot control instructions using one or more inputs providing part geometry information and addition path information for a part, the robot control instructions executable by a robot controller to control a robot including a robotic arm and an additive manufacturing tool coupled with the robotic arm, the instructions including instructions to control position of the additive manufacturing tool and operation of the additive manufacturing tool to output additive material to produce the part; operating an additive manufacturing simulation engine to execute the robot control instructions effective to generate a virtual part, the virtual part including virtual part geometry information and virtual part addition path information indicating characteristics of a material addition path resulting from execution of the robot control instructions by the simulation engine, at least one of the virtual part geometry information varying from the geometry information provided by the one or more inputs and the virtual part addition path information varying from the addition path information provided by the one or more inputs; analyzing the virtual part geometry information and the virtual part addition path information relative to the one or more inputs; if the analyzing indicates that the virtual part does not satisfy one or more conditions repeating the generating with a change to the one or more inputs to generate modified robot control instructions, repeating the operating with the modified robot control instructions to generate a second virtual part; and if the analyzing indicates that the virtual part satisfies the one or more conditions, operating the robot controller to execute the robot control instructions to create a tangible part. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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8. A system comprising:
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a code generator structured to automatically generate robot control code from a plurality of user-provided input parameters defining a net geometry for a part, a material addition path for the part, and characteristics of a robot system, the robot control code including instructions for producing a tangible part by controlling a robot and an additive manufacturing device adjustable by the robot; a part production simulator structured to receive and execute the robot control code to produce a virtual part including virtual part net geometry characteristics and virtual part material addition path characteristics, at least one of the virtual part net geometry characteristics deviating from the net geometry defined by the input parameters and the virtual part material addition path characteristics deviating from the material addition path defined by the input parameters; and a part analyzer structured to analyze the virtual part relative to one or more criteria, if the one or more criteria are not satisfied modify one or more of the input parameters, re-execute the robot control code to generate a second virtual part and re-evaluate the second virtual part relative to the one or more criteria, and if the one or more conditions are satisfied provide the robot control code for execution by the robot system to operate the robot and the device to create the tangible part. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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15. A method comprising:
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generating robot control code from one or more files including part geometry parameters, material addition parameters, and robot system parameters, the robot control code including instructions to control position and material output of an additive manufacturing tool adjustable over six degrees of freedom by the robot system; simulating execution of the robot control code by a controller of the robot system to generate a virtual part file, the virtual part file including virtual part geometry parameters and virtual part material addition parameters; analyzing the virtual part net geometry parameters relative to the part geometry parameters of the one or more files and the virtual part material addition parameters relative to the material addition parameters of the one or more files; and executing the robot control code with the controller to produce the part with robot system if the analyzing indicates that the virtual part satisfies one or more conditions. - View Dependent Claims (16)
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Specification