Structure Design and Solution of Kinematics of Robot Manipulator for 3D Concrete Printing

In relation to automated 3D concrete construction printing, a structure design of a suitable robot manipulator is presented as well as analytical solutions of related kinematics. The proposed structure has a higher number of degrees of freedom which can significantly increase the dexterity of a robot end-effector carrying a printing head. It should perform a continual motion along complicated large-scale printing trajectories. The related robot kinematics is derived by a novel representation of working layers in the complex plane using exponential functions. It leads to an explicit derivation of kinematic equations. The theoretical results are presented by examples of motion trajectories with typical configurations of the proposed structure. Note to Practitioners—This paper deals with a design of suitable robot structures for 3D concrete printing. Such concept is determined for on-site printing of residential houses. This area is developing a lot, but without a systematic design of energy-efficient, space-fitting robotic arms. A suitable structure is proposed, including a kinematic description to determine joint coordinates necessary for robot motion control. To ensure continuous energy-balanced motion during a large-scale printing, the redundant links in the structure are also used. Next research tasks focus on trajectory optimisation in complex print profiles.