IRobot begins

3D printing's prime time but we already know that. From, god forbid, the printing of guns, to the prototyping of brake assemblies and human organs,  the fabbing revolution of stereolith tech is alive and well but now, a patent removing the human part of the equation has been accepted, something to consider when looking at the relationship of tech to all things political, financial and governmental.

The Robotic Fabricator, as their patent is called, presents methods in which an all in one automated fabricator would make things and put them together too. The patent filing makes note of tools toward this end. The system would include a tool-head for manufacturing, and manipulators.

"In traditional 3D printing," said the iRobot filers, "designs must still be divided into parts for production, and a trained individual assembles the fabricated parts into the final product after printing."

The human involvement in traditional 3-D printing creates increased factory safety risks. As important, they argue that the automated system that they are recommending reduces the risk of failure of the end product.

"Connectors, fasteners, seams, and similar interfaces are frequently a source of failure in the end product. A fabrication device that reduces the number of connectors, fasteners, seams, and similar component interfaces increases the quality of the end product and reduces product failure."

Included in their patent discussion is how fabrication could be centered around a six-axis industrial robotic manipulator (primary manipulator) that handles the product from seed component to mature product. "The primary manipulator positions the product for manufacturing operations such as additive and subtractive manufacturing (3D printing, milling and drilling). A secondary manipulator handles component pick-and-place and secondary manufacturing operations such as wire placement and hardware testing."

IRobot begins

Seen below is the TED video on the future of printing human organs.