Robot Subsystems
These are all of the subsystems that are needed to build 3D Robot. This is the latest design and it keeps on getting updated.
All of these subsystems are parametric like the robot itself and can be changed as desired. All of these systems can be used in any configuration.
Omniwheels
Omniwheels are wheels that work in all directions and are a bedrock for robotics. This is just a good version of them, They will be important in the 3D Robot project.
Bottom Base
The bottom base is where the motors to operate the omniwheels will be as well as the electronics the power supply unit (there will be a few options for that). This in short will be the powerhouse of the robot (for both power, movement, and processing).
Materials storage
All materials will be stored in the Bottom Base in special containers and in special places. We will have a feed system to extract the material from the bottom to the tool head which will be on the end of the robot arm (attached to the connect).
The materials will be refilled automatically by the robot when needed.
Fuel will be on of those materials and the robot will refill it when needed.
Other materials will be powders, filament, heating fuels (and maybe oxidizers), ect.
Robot arm
There will be a few robot arms on the single robot Bottom Base. The arm will be responsible for soley positioning the object in a certain xyz position only. It will do so by having two angles and a radius. The radius will change by the changing of the internal angles of the different segments of the robot arm. At first we try a three segmented robot arm with each segments capable of making a 360 degree turn. The whole arm will be on a rotatable circle for rotating around the z-axis.
Gimbal
The Gimbal will be responsible for the rotation of the object which will be held by the connect in all three directions.
Connect
The connect is the last part but also a very important one. It will be the way that the Robot will interface with the parts it is working with. And will be a very good interface. It will also be the mechanism with which Robot interacts with other toolheads it might need. So if the Robot needs to do some 3D Printing it could do so using this interface to lift a print head and start printing as well as other things. There are still details to be figured out around the toolheads but hopefully soon a universal set of procedures will be there so that they can work anywhere.
Tool Heads
The tool heads will be used to do the 3D Building (like 3D Printing and cnc machining ect.) and they can be used to accomplish almost any task.
Right now there are these four (there will be more later):
1. 3D Print head
2. CNC machine head
3. Blow torch head
4. Powder and paste deposit head
External Systems
These are needed external systems that interact with robot. They may be stationary or moving. In the long run multiple robots will be able to interact together. Common examples include: Materials racks, tool racks, vacuum cleaner (operated by the robot), external machine tool (operated by the robot), and external blow torch (operated by the robot).
All of these have varying degrees of operation.