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Robots and additive manufacturing (AM) are both transformative technologies, with the potential to decrease labor, reduce costs and disrupt the way products are made. But what happens when these two technologies work together?

The July 2019 issue of Additive Manufacturing magazine explores how robots and AM intersect in various ways. In our cover story, injection molder Evco Plastics shares its experience integrating a cell of six 3D printers with a collaborative robot (cobot). The work that the cobot performs (removing build plates with finished parts and starting the next cycle) is similar to how it might serve a machine tool, but the integration process required ingenuity and creativity. Evco now has an automated cell that can run 24/7, giving this company the capacity to take on production work that previously would have been cost-prohibitive to injection mold. 

But part unloading isn’t the only way that robots enter into AM. Other stories in this issue include:

• Addere’s robot-based metal 3D printing system (shown above) uses standard weld wire to build large parts, with a deposition rate that can reach 50 lbs/hr.
• Research into robot “swarms” could enable a new, ultra-efficient era of 3D printing and automated manufacturing.
• A San Diego startup is exploring multimaterial metal 3D printing and new ways of thinking about design through Laser Metal Deposition (LMD) technology, now compatible with robotics.
• Custom 3D-printed grippers made in house are allowing Bilstein of America to get the most out of its cobots.

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