Patent Foresees Autonomous, 3D-Printing "Robotic Fabricator"

A U.S. patent application was filed last week for an autonomous all-in-one 3D printing, milling, drilling and finishing robot by iRobot Corporation, called "Robotic Fabricator."

The robot is supposed to be able to create whole components with the help of an integrated 3D printer, and also has two manipulator arms to allow for other manufacturing tasks like assembly, testing and moving the manufactured objects and parts of them in and out of the fabricator.

A six-axis industrial robotic manipulator will be a center piece of the fabricator, by handling the products from seed component and through the whole production process. This includes especially to position the product very precisely for manufacturing operations such as additive and subtractive manufacturing (3D printing, milling and drilling). The secondary manipulator, meanwhile, handles the delivery and placement of new components, as well as secondary manufacturing operations such as wire placement and hardware testing.

The Robotic Fabricator will also integrate a number of sensors, if required. They will allow the system to measure parameters and characteristics of the product being manufactured while the process is taking place. Information collected by the sensor, for example a precision visual scanning device, may be used by the fabrication machine to adjust subsequent steps in the manufacturing process.

Essentially, machines with most of the capabilies described in the patent already exist, but they are usually used in very specific scenarios, and need to be reconfigured and adjusted for each new product. The Robotic Fabricator is a generalization of these tools, combining them all in one compact system which is built to be a flexible and allround manufacturing robot. The approach is becoming feasible now, since the prices of all the components are coming down from previously astronomical levels, with 6 and 7 digit pricetags for the components like 3D printers, high-performance milling machines, six-axis manipulators. The system could potentially even replicate itself, supplied with the necessary components and building plans.