Multinational automotive manufacturer福特已经开始在其生产线内使用自动驾驶机器人，以便其车辆的3D打印最终用途零件。
利用内部开发的界面，福特设法获得了KUKA- 建造的机器人可以与其他系统“说相同的语言”，并在没有人类互动的情况下操作它们。到目前为止，该公司的申请专利方法已部署到3D打印自定义零件野马谢尔比GT500sports car, but it could yet yield efficiency savings across its production workflow.
福特全球制造技术开发总监Jason Ryska说：“这个新过程可以改变我们在制造设施中使用机器人技术的方式。”“它不仅使福特能够扩展其3D打印机操作，还扩展到我们制造过程的其他方面 - 这项技术将使我们能够简化设备并在装配线上更加灵活。”
福特创新中心的3D打印
Since acquiring an SLA 3 system back in the late 1980s, Ford has consistently sought to integrate 3D printing into different aspects of its vehicle production process. As revealed in a recentinterview with AMUG keynote speaker Ellen Lee，该公司不仅在流体流量可视化和风洞测试中使用该技术，还使用了其汽车的夹具，固定装置和最终用途组件。
福特在3D打印的大部分工作都发生在其上高级制造中心（AMC），该设施现在容纳SLA，FDM和SLS系统，包括其他高级机械。虽然AMC团队花费大量时间来验证印刷零件的可行性或评估如何更好地利用3D打印技术，但他们的工作产生了许多最近的突破。
就在上个月，福特发布了CAD文件，使客户能够3D打印皮卡车配件such as cup holders or phone mounts, and through working with生命值去年，它开发了一种将3D打印废物回收为F-250零件.
回去，公司也与DLS专业碳合作在2015年，作为最初加快其原型工作流程的一种手段，但其长期目标是将技术用于部分生产。随着它已经开发了自动化的碳3D打印工作流程的消息，现在看来福特已经通过了这一里程碑，并将目光投向了从流程中推动效率。
与自动机器人接口
Like most companies, Ford utilizes systems at its production facilities that have been developed separately from one another, hence they don’t run the same interface and can’t usually communicate back and forth. However, the firm has now shifted this paradigm, by developing a unique application interface program that enables systems of different makes to send constant feedback to each other.
当应用于福特AMC的车轮上的机器人臂（绰号“ Javier”）时，该软件实质上允许它与该软件“交谈”Carbon3D printers there. As a result, the bot is now able to tell when the center’s additive manufactured parts will be finished, as well as when they’re ready for pick-up, operating autonomously all night long without requiring any human input at all.
Although Ford admits that its operators are still responsible for uploading designs to the printer and maintaining machinery, it says its approach does unlock higher part throughputs and reduces related costs. The firm also claims to have used Javier’s feedback to reduce the margins of error within its processes, allowing it to “achieve great accuracy” in production despite the bot not having the vision systems to ‘see.’
目前，该公司正在利用其设置来制作小批量的自定义零件，例如配备性能包装的野马Shelby GT500的制动线路支架。不过，向前迈进，福特认为它的计划也可以应用于在其生产线中的其他机器人的效率更高，并且它已提交了几项专利，不仅是在其界面上，而且是其Kuka机器人的定位。
The competitive world of automotive AM
Due to the highly-competitive nature of the automotive industry, we may not know the full extent to which many leading manufacturers utilize 3D printing, but now and then they do provide us with a glimpse of the way it’s used behind the scenes.
早在2021年6月，据透露大众汽车采用了粘合剂喷射在德国沃尔夫斯堡的主要工厂。作为一个项目的一部分，据报道，该项目是第一个在其生产过程中部署该技术的汽车制造商，该公司已与生命值和西门子目的是提高效率和部分吞吐量。
Similarly, fellow car-manufacturing multinationalGroupe Renault已经宣布计划将3D打印功能集成到其新的可持续的汽车“重新计算”。具体而言，该公司表示，该综合大楼将专注于通过回收和翻新车辆减少废物，将采用备件添加剂制造服务。雷电竞充值
At奥迪的同时，Ingolstadt的金属3D打印中心已经开始增加部署EOStechnologies to3D打印热形式工具. In doing so, the firm says it’s now able to produce twelve different segments of four hot forming tools at the facility, which are later used to assemble car models like the A4 saloon.
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特色图片显示福特的“哈维尔”自动3D打印机器人。通过福特照片。
