MIT researchers have automated the process to determine ideal parameters that consistently print a new material effectively using artificial intelligence. They created a machine-learning system that watches the manufacturing process using computer vision and corrects handling faults in real-time. They put the controller on a real 3D printer after using simulations to teach a neural network how to change the printing parameters to reduce error. Compared to other 3D printing controllers, their technology produced items more correctly.
Due to the extensive amount of trial and error involved, choosing the optimal parameters for a digital manufacturing process can be one of the most expensive steps in the procedure. Hence, they created a machine-vision system with two cameras pointed at the 3D printer’s nozzle to accomplish this. The technology illuminates the material as it is deposited and determines the thickness of the material based on how much light passes through.
Once the controller has processed the images it has received from the vision system, it will change the printer’s orientation and feed rate in response to any errors it finds. It makes millions of prints that are necessary for training a neural network-based controller to comprehend this manufacturing process, which is a data-intensive operation. So instead, the researchers created a simulator.
“This project is really the first demonstration of building a manufacturing system that uses machine learning to learn a complex control policy,” says senior author Wojciech Matusik , professor of electrical engineering and computer science at MIT who leads the Computational Design and Fabrication Group (CDFG) within the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory .
“If you have manufacturing machines that are more intelligent, they can adapt to the changing environment in the workplace in real-time, to improve the yields or the accuracy of the system. You can squeeze more out of the machine.”
Facts of MIT:
1. MIT was founded April 10, 1861, two days before the start of the Civil War.
2. In 1958, Oliver Smoot (class of ’62) with his Lambda Chi Alpha brothers measured the Harvard bridge. Members of the fraternity maintain the painted marks.
3. While Tony Stark is said to have graduated from MIT “summa cum laude,” MIT does not have any class ranking for its students.
4. The Infinite Corridor lines up with the plane of the ecliptic twice a year, filling the 0.16 mile hallway with sunlight.
5. The first human cancer gene discovery took place at MIT. Weinberg found the ras oncogene.
6. A Pirate’s License can be granted to MIT students who complete pistol, archery, fencing and sailing classes. While the license existed for 20 years unofficially, it was made official in 2012.
7. MIT Invented the first computer in Cambridge in 1928. You can view Whirlwind I at the MIT Museum.
8. MIT’s program in architecture was the first established in the U.S.
9. Tetazoo, an East Campus floor, stands for The Third East Traveling Animal Zoo. Known for hacking and a reckless attitude, it’s uncertain if these students are actually zoological.
10. MIT has earned 203 Academic All America citations, the most for any Division 3 program in the nation.
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