[Paper Review] Swarm Fabrication: Reconfigurable 3D Printers and Drawing Plotters Made of Swarm Robots

Samin Farajian, Hiroki Kaimoto+1 more|arXiv (Cornell University)|Feb 22, 2022

Modular Robots and Swarm Intelligence4 citations

TL;DR

This paper proposes Swarm Fabrication, a novel approach to creating reconfigurable, on-demand 3D printers and drawing plotters using swarm robots—specifically, toio robots with 3D-printed mechanical attachments. By leveraging these robots as mobile actuators for components like extruders, lead screws, and wire-controlled systems, the authors demonstrate a functional X-Y-Z plotter capable of 3D printing and drawing, enabling scalable, portable, and dynamically reconfigurable fabrication tools.

ABSTRACT

We introduce Swarm Fabrication, a novel concept of creating on-demand, scalable, and reconfigurable fabrication machines made of swarm robots. We present ways to construct an element of fabrication machines, such as motors, elevator, table, feeder, and extruder, by leveraging toio robots and 3D printed attachments. By combining these elements, we demonstrate constructing a X-Y-Z plotter with multiple toio robots, which can be used for drawing plotters and 3D printers. We also show the possibility to extend our idea to more general-purpose fabrication machines, which include 3D printers, CNC machining, foam cutters, line drawing devices, pick and place machines, 3D scanning, etc. Through this, we draw a future vision, where the swarm robots can construct a scalable and reconfigurable fabrication machines on-demand, which can be deployed anywhere the user wishes. We believe this fabrication technique will become a means of interactive and highly flexible fabrication in the future.

Motivation & Objective

• Address the inflexibility of current digital fabrication machines, which are non-portable, non-scalable, and non-reconfigurable due to fixed form factors.
• Overcome limitations in portability and adaptability by enabling on-demand construction of fabrication tools using mobile robots.
• Explore the feasibility of using swarm robots as functional components (e.g., actuators, extruders) to build modular, reconfigurable fabrication systems.
• Demonstrate a proof-of-concept X-Y-Z plotter and 3D printer using toio robots and mechanical attachments for dynamic reconfiguration.
• Pave the way for future general-purpose fabrication machines, such as CNC mills, foam cutters, and 3D scanners, built from reconfigurable robot swarms.

Proposed method

• Utilize toio robots as mobile actuators by programming them via P5.js to control movement and actuation of 3D-printed mechanical attachments.
• Construct X-Y plotters using two toio robots with bridge attachments to form a movable gantry, and a third toio with a plotter attachment for tool movement.
• Implement wire-controlled plotters by using rotating motion of toio robots to adjust wire length, enabling 2D positioning of a plotter on suspended wires.
• Enable vertical surface operation by attaching magnets to toio robots, allowing movement on whiteboards or vertical planes similar to Scribit.
• Extend the system to 3D printing by integrating additional attachments: extruder, modeling table, and material container, all actuated by toio robots on bridges or wire systems.
• Demonstrate reconfigurability by enabling dynamic swapping of functional attachments (e.g., extruder vs. pick-and-place tool) via robot coordination.

Experimental results

Research questions

• RQ1 Can swarm robots be effectively used to construct reconfigurable fabrication machines such as 3D printers and plotters?
• RQ2 How can toio robots serve as mobile actuators for core fabrication components like extruders, lead screws, and positioning systems?
• RQ3 To what extent can the system be scaled and adapted for different fabrication tasks (e.g., drawing, 3D printing, CNC machining) through modular attachment and robot coordination?
• RQ4 Can the system support dynamic reconfiguration between different fabrication modes (e.g., from 3D printing to line drawing) without hardware redesign?
• RQ5 What are the practical limitations and performance trade-offs of using low-cost, small mobile robots as functional parts of complex fabrication systems?

Key findings

• The authors successfully demonstrated a functional X-Y-Z plotter using three toio robots and 3D-printed attachments, capable of precise 2D and 3D motion control.
• A wire-controlled system was implemented where two toio robots adjusted wire length to position a plotter, enabling 2D movement on suspended wires.
• The system achieved stable operation on vertical surfaces by attaching magnets to toio robots, enabling drawing on whiteboards similar to Scribit.
• A working 3D printing setup was realized using toio robots as mobile extruders on bridge structures, with coordinated movement for g-code-driven deposition.
• The modular design allows for dynamic reconfiguration: the same robot swarm can be reprogrammed to function as a 3D printer, drawing plotter, or other fabrication tools by swapping attachments.
• The approach enables on-demand, portable, and scalable fabrication, with potential extension to CNC machining, foam cutting, pick-and-place systems, and 3D scanning.