Paul Marks, chief technology correspondent
Hands on (Image:?KeystoneUSA-ZUMA/Rex Features)?
While some 3D printers can make many of the parts needed to make a copy of themselves, most need human help to assemble the final product. Not for much longer: machines could soon be making machines if Roomba maker iRobot gets its way.
The Bedford, Massachusetts, firm has filed a US patent on a way to rid 3D printers of the need for pesky humans, allowing robots to do all the post-printing work to make a complete product. The firm notes that the output of 3D printers still needs a lot of human intervention: removing unwanted material such as burrs on plastic and metal parts, or removing powdery dust from internal voids that need stuffing with, say, circuit boards and batteries. And final assembly is done by hand, too, pushing together connectors and fasteners, for instance.
Enter iRobot's do-it-all robotic fabricator, comprising a twin-armed robot allied with a 3D printer, a milling machine and a drill, all on one platform. The platform is peppered with sensors so that a computer can choreograph all stages of manufacture, using the additive technique of 3D printing or the subtractive ones of milling and drilling, as needed. Both robot arms have dextrous grippers with six degrees of freedom, so one can hold a newly 3D-printed piece while the other secures another piece to it with glue, connectors or fasteners.
"Since no human intervention is used product design is simpler and production is more efficient," claim the inventors. It's clear is that if anyone thought 3D printers might spawn a new wave of employment they had better think again: it looks like any such benefit could be short-lived.
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