Session: DFMLC-04-04: Design for Large and Distributed Systems and Life Cycle

Paper Number: 139235

139235 - Realizability and System Architecture for Collaborative Large-Scale Mobile Platform 3-D Printing Robots 

Large-scale autonomous construction systems (ACSs) have become an important area of technology development in research years. Several areas remain to be comprehensively studied, including the design of both the construction equipment and final products, the science behind the materials used, system architecture, major applications (such space exploration, local disaster recovery, and expeditionary operations), and the realizability of the system. The realizability (manufacturability, assembly, and integration) of the system components is the most important of these at this point in the technology development, as it drives the feasibility and decision-making of the technology and enables the major applications. This article explores the realizability and system architecture of an ACS based on a large-scale collaborative autonomous robot (assumed to be a robotic arm) mounted in a mobile platform (such as a Warthog). In addition to the robotic base and the arm, a system of tenders and the raw material supply is examined as well. The basic system configuration, the interfaces, and the realizability requirements driven by a formal concept-of-operations (CONOPS) diagram and known/designed system architecture. This work will be helpful in the further development, refinement, and application of this and similar systems by showing the major system architecture and formalizing the requirements for developing the system.

Presenting Author: Albert Patterson Texas A&M University

Presenting Author Biography: Albert E. Patterson, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Manufacturing and Mechanical Engineering Technology in the Department of Engineering Technology and Industrial Distribution, with affiliate appointments in the Departments of Mechanical and Multidisciplinary Engineering and Materials Science at Texas A&M University. He holds a PhD in Industrial Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, as well as BS and MS degrees in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. He is the director of the Manufacturability-Driven Design Lab at Texas A&M University, where he leads an interdisciplinary team to solve fundamental and applied problems in mechanical design, manufacturing science, and life cycle engineering. Prior to pursuing an academic career, Dr. Patterson worked for several years in the aerospace industry with the Boeing Company and the US Department of Defense through the GMD program under the Missile Defense Agency and the automated construction field with Autonomous and Unmanned Vehicle Systems Lab and the Army Corps of Engineers.

Authors:

Henry Hu Texas A&M University
William R. Norris University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Ahmet Soylemezoglu US Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Lab
Dustin Nottage US Army Corps of Engineers Construction Engineering Research Lab
Albert Patterson Texas A&M University