Arevo Labs’ Robotic Additive Manufacturing Platform will offer the defense and aerospace industries the ability to quickly and accurately 3D print complex composite thermoplastic parts. The robot and printing hardware is controlled with a comprehensive software suite that has currently been tailored to manage ABB Robotics IRB 120, their smallest 6-axis robot system. However, scalability has been programmed into the software so it can be adapted to many of the larger models of ABB robotic systems.
Here is a video of the RAM Platform software monitoring part manufacturing:
“We are excited to be the first to develop a robot based additive manufacturing platform optimized for composite parts. Unencumbered by the constraints of conventional Cartesian systems, this platform is the dawn of the additive manufacturing work cell for the aerospace and defense factory-of-the-future,” said CEO and founder of Arevo Labs Hemant Bheda.
“Our ABB IRB120 robot is perfectly suited for the Additive Manufacturing Platform, offering the high precision and repeatability required for 3D printed parts for end-use applications. We are glad to see ABB’s robot performance and capabilities being fully utilized with Arevo Labs’ software in printing true 3D surfaces,” says the new applications business line manager at ABB Nicolas De Keijser.
According to Arevo Labs, parts printed using their RAM platform offer improved strength and superior aesthetics than parts printed using standard Cartesian based 3D printing technology and software. The platform is the first thermoplastic additive manufacturing system that offers the production of high-quality parts made using fully 3D surfaces in variable orientations. Not only does this process virtually eliminate the need for most support structures, but it also allows for a reduction of part striation and stepping, not to mention faster part post processing time. What are your thoughts on this new 6-axis machine? Let us know in the Arevo Labs forum thread on 3DPB.com.