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Research on Large-scale Additive Manufacturing Based on Multi-robot

Collaboration Technology

Shen Hongyao, Pan Lingnan, Qian Jun

PII: S2214-8604(19)30824-3
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2019.100906
Reference: ADDMA 100906

To appear in: Additive Manufacturing

Received Date: 24 June 2019

Revised Date: 10 September 2019
Accepted Date: 3 October 2019

Please cite this article as: Hongyao S, Lingnan P, Jun Q, Research on Large-scale Additive
Manufacturing Based on Multi-robot Collaboration Technology, Additive Manufacturing (2019),
doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.addma.2019.100906

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Research on Large-scale Additive Manufacturing Based on
Multi-robot Collaboration Technology

Shen Hongyao*, Pan Lingnan, Qian Jun

*Email:shenhongyao@zju.edu.cn
The State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power and Mechatronic Systems, College of
Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China
Key Laboratory of 3D Printing Process and Equipment of Zhejiang Province, College

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of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

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Abstract: Additive manufacturing is considered a promising technology for many
applications, such as the construction industry. However, the size of a design is
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constrained by the chamber volume of the 3D printer, and large-scale additive
manufacturing technology with flexible equipment is still unproven. This paper
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proposes a large-scale 3D printing system composed of multiple robots working in
collaboration. For this flexible and extensible 3D printing system, the influences of the
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multi-robot layout on the maximum reachable area and the geometry adaptability are
discussed. Furthermore, a printer task optimized scheduling algorithm based on
efficiency egalitarianism is proposed in this paper, and a robot interference avoidance
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strategy is designed by dividing the printing layer into several safe areas and
interference areas. Collaborative printing experiments are implemented on the multi-
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robot platform, and the results show that the efficiency improvement of four robots
exceeds 73% compared with a general printing method.
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Keywords: Additive Manufacturing, Large-scale, Multi-robot Collaboration, Path

Segmentation, Optimal Dispatching

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1. Introduction
Additive manufacturing (AM), also referred to as 3D printing, involves building
three-dimensional parts by depositing material layer upon layer directly from a digital
model [1-2]. Compared to traditional manufacturing technology, AM shows immense
potential in manufacturing [3], biotechnology [4] and materials [5]. However, the
printable size of a 3D printer is still a puzzle standing in the way of development of this
technology.
AM usually requires a fixed-size printer with a limited printing envelope. As shown
in Fig. 1, the size of the design is strictly constrained by the chamber volume of the 3D

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printer, which can print parts whose sizes are no larger than this volume. There are two
usual approaches to this problem. The first approach is to design a printer large enough

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to fabricate the needed models, but in most cases, scaling up the printer is impractical

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and costly [6]. The second approach is to divide a model into smaller pieces that can be
printed in the original sized machines and then assembled artificially. This approach
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has been proven to work but has additional pre-design and process complexities.
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Fig. 1 The limitations in printable space of original Cartesian and delta printers
The shortcoming that the ‘desktop’ scale cannot meet the needs of designers is
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continuously magnified as AM becomes more widely used in modern industries.

Although specialist companies such as Materialise have products with dimensions up
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to 2100×600×780 mm that can build an entire car bumper in one machine [7], high
prices and inflexible designs have hindered the promotion and application of larger
products. Large-scale AM is a relatively new field of research that has developed
rapidly in the fields of construction and architecture [8-11]. Considering that large-scale
components require a special-sized printer and that it takes a large amount of time to

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complete a printing job, a good solution is to build a large enough workspace with
multiple small printing devices and perform collaborative printing.
With the research progress in distributed robotic systems, more aspects of multi-
robot systems are being explored [12-13], and the great research value of this
technology can be foreseen for application to AM. Xu Zhang et al. [14] proposed a 3D
printing system that employs multiple mobile robots concurrently printing a concrete
structure. The mobile robots are capable of printing their individual parts of a large print
job to construct the structure. Though we realize the many advantages of multi-robot
technology used in AM, this new technology is currently being investigated by only a

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few laboratories worldwide. There are several reasons for this situation. First, high-
precision equipment and complicated control systems are needed for reliable

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collaborative works. Second, robot assignment and coordination are difficult issues for
multi-robot systems, and the motion must be carefully coordinated to avoid mutual
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collisions during a real-time printing process [14-16]. Finally, the complexity of the
tasks that can be achieved by multi-robot 3D printing must be noted, and the quality of
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printed parts is significant to this study.
Currently, flexible multi-robot systems used in large-scale AM are still immature.
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An extensible large-scale 3D printing system composed of multiple robots working in

collaboration is introduced in this article. The outline of this paper is organized as
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follows. In Section 2, the design of the multi-robot collaboration system is introduced,

including the construction of the platform, the printing process of the whole system and
the placement locations of robots. Section 3 presents the segmentation algorithm used
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for the optimized scheduling of print tasks and proposes a calculation method for
arbitrary models. Section 4 gives practical solutions to robot interference avoidance
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during collaborative printing. Multi-robot 3D printing experiments are reported in

Section 5, and the paper is concluded in Section 6.

2. Multi-robot collaboration system

2.1 Construction of the multi-robot system and the printing process

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 As mentioned above, a robot printer with three degrees of freedom is chosen as the
device to perform tasks of collaborative printing. A typical application of a robot in AM
is illustrated in Fig. 2, and this robot comprises a triaxial arm, a build platform and a
nozzle for the end-effector to extrude the material [17]. As shown in Fig. 3, robots are
arranged in parallel, and two are placed opposite each other. In this way, the platform
can be continuously extended along the Y-axis, and designers can print objects of
infinite length by putting an appropriate amount of robots in the right positions. This
paper adopts four robots as the primary research platform and multiple robots are used
to expand on it.

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Fig. 2 An illustration of a robot printer Fig. 3 The placement of multiple robots
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As shown in Fig. 4, the multi-robot 3D printing system consists of a host computer,
a communication interface, and four robotic arms (Dobot version 2.0, Shenzhen
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Yuejiang Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, China) with end-effectors used for
extruding filaments. The host computer sends instructions to the robot controllers in
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parallel, and the programmable controller realizes the movement of stepper motors and
the function of its end-effector in real time. The data interactions between the host
computer and robot controller rely on the serial communication interface. By directly
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Fig. 4 A schematic of the multi-robot 3D printing system

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controlling multiple robots through the host computer without adding redundant
hardware devices, the entire system becomes simpler, and the development of a
collaborative printing system can be completed quickly with the help of ordinary
printing robots.
The working process of the multi-robot 3D printing system is illustrated in Fig. 5.
There are three main steps as follows. First, the original G-code file is needed as the
basis of data processing. The G-code includes commands for the speed of a machine,
positions for each axis, and speed of the extruder, to name a few [18]. Therefore, a
series of processes is required to transform the 3D model to the code parameters,

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including slicing the STL file in open source software such as Cura and generating the
contours of the CAD model. Second, reasonable post-processing of the G-code is used

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to obtain new instruction files for each printing robot. In the handler, the computer-
aided manufacturing (CAM) system determines the nozzle position, the corresponding
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length of the filament and the moving velocity. Then, the system rearranges and
modifies the printing path based on the segmentation algorithm, which is discussed in
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Section 3.1. Finally, under the control of an upper computer, the multi-robot 3D printing
system will work in order until completion. If an unknown error occurs during printing,
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the system will interrupt the process and remind operators in time to prevent damage to
the equipment.
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Fig. 5 The working process of the multi-robot 3D printing system

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 2.2 The placement locations of robots
The location relationship between robots determines the accuracy of the printed
parts. In terms of the multi-robot 3D printing system, the interface of the printed
boundary has an important impact on the shape and mechanical properties of the spliced
parts. To solve the problem of boundary transition, as shown in Fig. 6, several points in
the central coordinate system ( A – I ) are selected for calibration, and each robot
reaches the specified points with the same instructions. In this process, a coordinate
transformation is required for the robot, and therefore, the final position of the nozzle

( x, y, z ) in coordinate O transformed from coordinate O can be calculated by Eq.

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2-1.

 x  t x  cos   sin  0  x 

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 y  t    sin  cos  0   y  (2  1)
   y 
 z   t z   0 0 1   z 
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Fig. 6 The position calibration and the coordinate transformation of robots

Considering that the printing range of a single printer is limited, it is necessary to

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consider the size and complexity of the parts that can be printed in the cooperative
system. For the robot placement mentioned in this article, as shown in Fig. 7 (a), H
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and L are two related distance parameters that determine the size of S1 and S 2 . S1

represents the maximum valid printing rectangular region, and S 2 shows the area of a

region that four robot arms can reach. Therefore, S 2 represents the maximum

reachable area of the central segmentation point (introduced in Section 3.1), namely,
the complexity of parts that can be printed by this system. Fig. 7 (b) shows the

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 relationship between S1 and S2 with changes in H and L

( R1  150mm, R2  320mm ). To obtain the appropriate values of H and L , an

evaluation function is put forward in Eq. 2-2,

S1  S1min S  S2min
f ( H , L)  w1  w2 2 (2  2)
S1max  S1min S2max  S2min

where w1 and w2 are the weight coefficients of the printable area and complexity of

parts, respectively.

The relationship between w1 and w2 can be described as follows:

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w1  w2  1, w1  0, w2  0 (2  3)

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Because S1 and S 2 have different importance, a min-max normalization method is

adopted. Therefore, the optimal values of H and L can be found by selecting the
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appropriate weight coefficients and evaluating the maximum value of the function.
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Fig. 7 Influences of the multi-robot layout on the maximum reachable area and the geometry adaptability
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3. Optimized scheduling of printer tasks

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3.1 Segmentation process and algorithm

For the multi-robot 3D printing system, the scheduling of printer tasks is
indispensable throughout the whole design. To achieve the highest efficiency of the
collaborative system, the segmentation method proposed in this article is based on each
printer finishing the printing jobs of the same layer at the same time. Since the print
time is determined by the length of the printing path and the printing path can be
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represented by the printing area, a method of area equipartitioning is adopted to divide
the region to make the segmentation algorithm more intuitive.
As illustrated in Fig. 8, the process of printing path division consists of four steps.
The first step is to obtain the coordinates of the slicing contour points (Fig. 8 (a)) and
then sort the points appropriately. The second step is to obtain the segmentation points
on the contour. As shown in Fig. 8 (b), a minimum bounding rectangle (MBR) that is
parallel to the X and Y axes is drawn, and then the centre of the rectangle ( O ) and

the midpoints of the sides (such as Q ) are found. To find the intersection of the vertical

centerline and the contour line ( A, B, C, D ), two consecutive points (such as P1 and

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P2 ) need to be found on both sides of the dividing line (such as OQ ), which can be

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determined by the following formula:

(OP1  OQ)  (OP2  OQ)  0 (3  1)

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and the coordinate information of point B can be obtained through the geometric
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relationship.
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Fig. 8 The process of printing path division

The third step (Fig. 8 (c)) is to search for the optimal segmentation point O with
the point O as the initial point so that the four segmented regions are nearly equal in
area. To find the optimal segmentation points effectively and accurately, a simulated

8
annealing (SA) algorithm is adopted in this article. SA is a probabilistic technique for
approximating the global optimum in a large space of an objective function. The
process of SA used for searching the optimal segmentation points is illustrated in Fig.

9. The optimization problem can be formulated as a pair of ( C , f ), where C describes

a discrete set of configurations (initial temperature T0 , unit offset of point d e ,

temperature reduction coefficient  ) and f is the objective function that is

optimized. During the search, the temperature is progressively decreased from an initial
positive value to the threshold and affects the probabilities. In this paper, the standard

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deviation of four areas ( S AB , SBC , SCD , SDA ) and a quarter of the total area ( S  ) is defined

as the objective function, which is shown in Eq. 3-2, to evaluate the dispersion degree

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of each area.

f ( po int) 
1
4
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( S AB  S )2  ( S BC  S ) 2  ( SCD  S ) 2  ( S DA  S ) 2  (3  2)
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Fig. 9 The flowchart of SA used to search for the optimal segmentation point
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The algorithm decides which solution to accept through a relaxation technique
developed by Metropolis et al. [19] for avoiding local optima. At the same temperature,

if the neighbour solution is better than the current solution, that is, f (O)  f (O) , the

candidate solution is accepted; otherwise, the Metropolis criteria are used to judge
whether to accept the candidate solution. The formula is as follows:

f (O)  f (O)
p  exp( ) (3  3)
kBT

where k B is the Boltzmann constant and T is the current temperature. If the

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probability p is greater than a random number from zero to one, the candidate

solution can be accepted. The smaller the change in the point and the higher the

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temperature, the more likely it is for the algorithm to accept the solution. Then, a new

neighbour point is selected based on the parameter d e , the temperature is decreased

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using Eq. 3-4, and looping is continued until the stop condition is met.
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Tnext  Tcurrent   (0,1) (3  4)

The last step (Fig. 8 (d)) is to rearrange the filled path and complement the
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instructions between the breakpoints on split lines. The extrusion parameter needs to be
linearly distributed according to the lengths of the two paths. As the Z-axis increases,
all levels of partitioning are found to create four separate executable code files, which
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are used for the multi-robot collaborative system.

3.2 Calculation method for arbitrary model
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The slice contour corresponding to the model is composed of many interpolation

points, so the closed contour can be divided into many triangles for superposition when
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calculating the area. To calculate the concave polygon and the cross-sectional area of
the inner hole model, the directed area method is used to calculate the vector area of

each partition. As shown in Fig. 10, P1 ~ Pn are the points on the outer contour that

are arranged in a specific direction, and J1 ~ J m are the points on the inner hole

contour. Directed areas of polygons have two descriptions: a definite normal direction

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that points to one side of the plane and the steering of points in the polygon made by
the right-hand rule based on the normal direction. According to vector algebra, the area
is easy to describe by

1
Si  Ri Ri 1 (3  5)
2

where R is a sequence of radius vectors and Si is a positive value when Si is the

same direction as axis Z and a negative value otherwise. If the polygon has an inner
hole, the area can be calculated by Eq. 3-6.
n 1 m 1
1 n1 1 m1
S   SOPk Pk 1   SOJt Jt 1   k k 1 2 

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OP OP  OJ t OJ t 1 (3  6)
k 1 t 1 2 k 1 t 1

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Fig. 10 Area calculation of directed areas of arbitrary polygons
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4. Robot interference avoidance

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For multi-robot collaborative systems, it is inevitable to consider the interference

between robots. In previous research, most approaches have adopted robot kinematics
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to design the robot motion path or collect the robot motion state by external sensors to
prevent robots from colliding. Although these methods are effective, they demand high
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requirements for pre-design and hardware conditions. This paper proposes a new
solution that divides the printing path into a safe area and an interference area; therefore,
as long as the printing sequence within the region is well planned, the interference
problem of multi-robot collaborative systems can be solved.
4.1 Interference solution for large-size parts
As mentioned above, a complete model is divided into four sub-printing areas for

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splicing, so the area where robots will interfere is near the model segmentation lines.
As shown in Fig. 11 (a), the safe area and interference area are distinguished by several
intersecting lines parallel to the segmentation lines. The areas where robots may collide
are defined as interference areas, and the remaining areas are considered to be safe areas
for printing. Such a subdivision method divides the printing path in one region into two
parts, so the G-code instructions need to be sorted and modified for later printing order
planning (Fig. 11 (b)). The distance between two parallel lines is determined by the
maximum annular area of the end-effector.

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Fig. 11 The division of safe areas and interference areas

For large-size parts, the printing region of the safe area is much larger than that of
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the interference area, and the entire print job of the printer is mainly carried out in the
safe area. Therefore, it is only by staggering the execution of the interference area tasks
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of each printer that there will be no collision during the printing process. The principle
of printing sequence planning for a multi-robot collaborative system is always adhered
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to by the fact that only one robot can work in an interference area at any time during
the whole printing process.
As shown in Fig. 12, first, one of the robots is required to print in the interference
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area, and the remaining robots perform safe area work. When the printing job in the
interference area is finished, the robot starts the printing job in the safe area, and at the
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same time, the next robot receives a message telling it to stop the safe area printing job
and start the interference area tasks. After completing the printing job in the interference
area, the printing task remaining in the safe area is continued, and a message with new
instructions is sent to the next robot. The process is repeated until all the printing tasks
are finished.

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 Fig. 12 Printing sequence planning for large-size parts

4.2 Interference solution for small-to-medium parts

For large-size parts, the printing tasks will end in the safe area according to the

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printing sequence planning mentioned above. However, when the area difference
between the interference area and safe area is not significant, which can be considered

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to occur when the safe area is less than three times the interference area, there may be
a case where the tasks in the safe area are finished but the message of transition to the
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interference area has not been received. This situation takes time to wait and makes the
whole process less efficient.
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To solve the interference problem of small-to-medium size parts whose safe area
is larger than the interference area but less than three times that area, a method of re-
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segmentation of the interference region is adopted. As shown in Fig. 13, the interference
area is divided into two regions Ⅰand Ⅱ.
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Fig. 13 Re-segmentation of the interference region

There are three printing areas that need task alternation, and the printing sequence
planning is illustrated in Fig. 14. First, all robots print in the interference area, but two
adjacent robots print in different interference areas. The robot that takes the lead in
completing the first part in the interference area enters the safe area for a temporary
transition. When all robots complete the first part of the printing job, the robots in the

13
safe area stop the current print job and begin to print another part in the interference
area. Then, these robots enter the safe area to complete the remaining print job after the
interference area is printed. In this way, small-to-medium parts can be printed most
efficiently without collision.

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Fig. 14 Printing sequence planning for small-to-medium parts

5. Collaborative printing experiment

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5.1 Multi-robot collaborative printing experiment platform
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To meet the functional requirements of the multi-robot collaborative printing
system mentioned above, a reliable upper computer is required to transmit instructions
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in real time and read the printing states of robots for effective coordination according
to reasonable task assignment rules. As shown in Fig. 15, the upper computer software
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is developed in Visual C# and used in the multi-robot collaborative printing system,

and actual printing work has been successfully performed.
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Fig. 15 The upper computer of the multi-robot collaborative printing system

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 The interaction between the upper computer and robots follows the serial
communication protocol for data bitwise transmission and reception. The upper
computer sets a plurality of storage to store instruction files and accesses different code
blocks under different conditions to perform specified tasks. The upper computer sends
a single line of instructions to each robot under the working conditions. The next
command is sent continuously only after receiving the feedback information from
robots. In this way, the continuity of multi-robot collaborative printing is guaranteed.
5.2 Analysis of collaborative printing efficiency
Since the equally divided areas are not completely equivalent for the print time to

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be consistent and the four areas calculated by the above algorithm have slight deviations,
the robots will not complete the printing tasks of one layer at the same time. The

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efficiency of the system is affected by the fact that the robot that finishes printing first
will stop working and wait to enter the next layer in accordance with the other robots.
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Therefore, it is necessary to compare the actual print time of the above-described
collaborative printing method with the independent print time of a single printing
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device to judge the improvement in printing efficiency.
In this experiment, four robots with a 320 mm arm span were used, the nozzle
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diameter was 0.4 mm , and the nozzle moved at a speed of 4 mm / s during extrusion.
As shown in Fig. 16, a complex model was printed with irregular contours and inner
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holes. By comparing the difference in time between collaborative printing and stand-
alone printing, it can be found that the multi-robot system achieved the same printing
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Fig. 16 The part printed by the four-robot collaborative system and the efficiency improvement
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task with nearly four times the efficiency. The results show that the workload of each
robot can be nearly consistent when assigning print jobs. The main influencing factors
are the deviations of the segmentation area and the supplementary paths on dividing
lines.

6. Conclusion
A major obstacle to the development of AM is that the printable size is constrained
by the chamber volume of printers. This paper develops a multi-robot collaboration
system used for large-scale AM. Three main achievements have been made in this work:

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1. A multi-robot collaborative system with an upper computer is designed. A
robot placement method is proposed for improving the size and complexity of

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printable parts.

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2. To improve the efficiency of the collaborative printing system, an optimized
segmentation algorithm is adopted to assign printing tasks to each printer
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according to the time consistency.
3. A solution that divides regions and executes sequentially is researched to avoid
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robot interference in collaborative printing, and printing sequence planning for

parts of different sizes is described in this paper.
Future research will focus on the application of more robots for collaborative
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printing. In addition, a general segmentation algorithm for printing models of complex

shapes needs to be studied to make this collaborative printing method universal.
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AUTHOR DECLARATION
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We wish to draw the attention of the Editor to the following facts which may be considered

as potential conflicts of interest and to significant financial contributions to this work.

This work was financially supported by Key research and development plan of Zhejiang

Province (No 2018C01073), the Science Fund for Creative Research Groups of National

Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51821093) and the National Nature Science

Foundation of China (No. 51475421).

16
 We confirm that the manuscript has been read and approved by all named authors and that

there are no other persons who satisfied the criteria for authorship but are not listed. We further

confirm that the order of authors listed in the manuscript has been approved by all of us.

We confirm that we have given due consideration to the protection of intellectual property

associated with this work and that there are no impediments to publication, including the timing

of publication, with respect to intellectual property. In so doing we confirm that we have

followed the regulations of our institutions concerning intellectual property.

We understand that the Corresponding Author is the sole contact for the Editorial process

(including Editorial Manager and direct communications with the office). He is responsible for

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communicating with the other authors about progress, submissions of revisions and final

approval of proofs. We confirm that we have provided a current, correct email address which

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is accessible by the Corresponding Author and which has been configured to accept email from

shenhongyao@zju.edu.cn.

Signed by all authors as follows:

Shen Hongyao
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Pan Lingnan

Qian Jun
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2019.5.24
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Acknowledge
This work was financially supported by Key research and development plan of
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Zhejiang Province (No 2018C01073), the Science Fund for Creative Research Groups
of National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51821093) and the National
Nature Science Foundation of China (No. 51475421).

17
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