Contour crafting process planning and optimization

Contour Crafting is an emerging technology that uses robotics to construct free form structures by repeatedly laying down layers of material such as concrete. The Contour Crafting technology scales up the additive fabrication process from building small industrial parts to constructing buildings. Tool path planning and optimization for Contour Crafting will benefit the technology by increasing the efficiency of construction of complicated structures. This research is intended to provide a systematic solution for improving overall system efficiency and realizing the automation of the Contour Crafting technology for building custom-designed houses. Approaches are presented to find the optimal tool path for the single nozzle Contour Crafting system incorporating the physical constraints of the technology and construction considerations. Several algorithms are given to find the collision-free tool path for the multiple nozzle system based on the single nozzle approach.