Singularity-aware motion planning for multi-axis additive manufacturing

TL;DR

This paper introduces a motion planning method for multi-axis additive manufacturing that addresses singularity and collision issues to enhance manufacturing quality and accuracy.

Contribution

It presents an integrated approach to handle singularity and collision problems in motion planning for multi-axis additive manufacturing.

Findings

Improved motion smoothness in singular regions

Reduced material over- and under-extrusion

Enhanced collision avoidance capabilities

Abstract

Multi-axis additive manufacturing enables high flexibility of material deposition along dynamically varied directions. The Cartesian motion platforms of these machines include three parallel axes and two rotational axes. Singularity on rotational axes is a critical issue to be tackled in motion planning for ensuring high quality of manufacturing results. The highly nonlinear mapping in the singular region can convert a smooth toolpath with uniformly sampled waypoints defined in the model coordinate system into a highly discontinuous motion in the machine coordinate system, which leads to over-extrusion / under-extrusion of materials in filament-based additive manufacturing. The problem is challenging as both the maximal and the minimal speeds at the tip of a printer head must be controlled in motion. Moreover, collision may occur when sampling-based collision avoidance is employed. In this paper, we present a motion planning method to support the manufacturing realization of designed toolpaths for multi-axis additive manufacturing. Problems of singularity and collision are considered in an integrated manner to improve the motion therefore the quality of fabrication.