Date of Graduation

5-2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering

Degree Level

Undergraduate

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Advisor/Mentor

Zhou, Wenchao

Committee Member/Reader

Jensen, David

Abstract

Currently 3D printers rely heavily on people to run them, there is no automatic way to start a new print after one has finished. On top of this 3D printers are limited in the area they can print on. Even though the additive manufacturing market is rapidly growing and is increasingly being used in product manufacturing there has yet to be a solution to this problem. This research proposes using mobile 3D printing robots to solve both of these issues. The proposed prototype utilizes a Selective Compliance Assembly Robot Arm (SCARA) based robot capable of cooperatively manufacturing parts. This allows for multiple robots to build single parts, decreasing the time taken for 3D printing and allowing for multiple materials to be used. With the robots being mobile it allows for multiple prints to be done consecutively without the need for human input. The design shown here features a fused deposition modeling (FDM) tool-head. In this research a concept was designed and realized through a prototype and subsequent evaluation. From the evaluation of this prototype design, knowledge was gained to be used in the design of a production version at a later date.

Keywords

Additive Manufacturing; Robotics

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