Deposition group-based toolpath planning for additive manufacturing with multiple robotic actuators

This paper proposes a practical approach for toolpath planning of vector-based additive manufacturing (AM) processes with multiple robotic actuators. It classifies and models the operational spatial constraints of possible actuator collisions and indexes the deposition priorities of materials. The contours within each layer of a multi-material object are sorted according to material deposition priorities, material distribution on the actuators, and the spatial constraints for collision avoidance. The sorted contours are then arranged into a series of deposition groups for subsequent concurrent fabrication. The proposed approach has been incorporated into a virtual prototyping system for visualization and validation of AM processes with various types of robotic actuators. Case studies show that it can greatly improve the concurrency of material deposition, and hence reduce the build time of complex multi-material and large single-material objects substantially. It can be practically adapted for control of AM processes with multiple robotic actuators.