Motion Planning for Extracting Uncured Metal AM Parts

Green Parts in Metal Additive Manufacturing

Green parts in metal additive manufacturing (AM) refer to the initial, unfinished components produced directly from the AM process before any post-processing steps. Here are the key points about green parts in metal AM:

Characteristics of Green Parts

• Composition: Green parts consist of metal powder particles held together by a binding agent.
• Structure: They are soft and fragile, with the metal powder only loosely bound.
• Density: Green parts have low density compared to the final product, often containing around 50% binder material.

Benefits of Robots in Additive Manufacturing

Using robots for tasks like handling green parts in additive manufacturing offers several advantages:

• Increased Efficiency: Robots reduce labor costs and automate processes, improving consistency.
• Flexibility: Well-suited for low-volume, high-mix production environments common in AM.
• Enhanced Capabilities: Enable multi-directional fabrication and larger build volumes.
• Improved Quality: Reduce variation and inconsistencies in part production.
• Adaptability: Can handle batch-to-batch variability in part geometries.
• Continuous Production: Help transform AM from batch to continuous processes.
• Versatility: Utilize various tools for support removal and finishing.
• Cost-effective at Scale: Economically advantageous as production increases.

These benefits help overcome challenges in scaling up AM for production applications.

Developing Simulation Framework using Gazebo

Gazebo provides an excellent platform for developing a simulation framework for robotic manipulation of green parts in metal additive manufacturing. As a powerful open-source robotics simulator, Gazebo offers high-fidelity physics, rendering, and sensor models that can accurately represent the delicate nature of green parts.

Leveraging the abilities of Gazebo, I developed a simulation for the problem to test the high level motion planning for the system. This utilized MoveIt for planning the paths.