Robotic additive manufacturing by laser metal deposition 
in the context of industry 4. 0

Abstract

The integration of a KUKA robot with a Meltio Engine head to create a laser metal deposition by wire (LMD-wire) cell involves a meticulous installation and must be highly controlled to function with the required precision. To this end, the creation of a digital twin became essential to operate the cell and to generate data that enable its monitoring, through an artificial intelligence system that optimizes its performance and prevents equipment wear. The goal of this article is to present the research that the Industrial Automation Innovation Group at the University of Brasília has been developing. The procedures are detailed, such as the installation of the robot, the Meltio-KUKA integration, the elaboration of a planar slicer with Rhino3D-Grasshopper and the simulation process with KUKA.Sim. The simulations’ results confirmed the robustness of the system for planar deposition methods and demonstrated its versatility to adapt to non-planar, multiplanar and hybrid deposition methods. The integration of the LMD-wire cell will remain under evaluation until its complete installation, when it will be ready for the first deposition experiments.