Development of an Optimized Layer Partitioning Strategy for Cooperative 3D Printing in a Robotic Arm Based Additive Manufacturing System
Abstract
Cooperative 3D printing (C3DP) with multiple robotic manipulators can reduce build time through parallel deposition, but it requires layer partitioning that accounts for collision clearance, workload balance, G-code toolpath compatibility, and interlayer boundary alignment. This study presents a Voronoi- and graph-based layer partitioning framework for C3DP. STL geometry and G-code were integrated into layer-aligned data, and a 65 mm collision clearance was defined from the measured end-effector collision radius as the minimum separation preventing collisions between robots approaching nonadjacent Voronoi cells. Each layer was divided into Voronoi cells so that non-adjacent cells could be treated as collision-free regions. Cell adjacency and toolpath-based processing time were modeled as a weighted graph, and adjacent cells were clustered into workload-balanced task regions. Interlayer seed offsets staggered the partition boundaries, and graph coloring identified regions that could be printed simultaneously.The framework was evaluated by workload-balance simulations and printing experiments. Balance deteriorated when clusters were excessive relative to graph nodes. In experiments, the end-effector separation always exceeded the 65 mm clearance. Partitioned printing reduced the layer printing time from 70.063 to 63.57 min, a 9.3% reduction, and the second layer covered the preceding partition boundary, confirming the staggered-boundary implementation.