Systems, methods, and devices for improved orthodontic treatment of a patient's teeth are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method includes determining an appliance geometry for a dental appliance. The appliance geometry can include a first region representing a shell comprising a plurality of teeth receiving cavities, and a second region representing at least one integrally formed component to be integrally joined to the shell. The method can also include generating instructions including a first digital representation of the shell based on the first region, and a second digital representation of the at least one integrally formed component based on the second region. The method can further include transmitting the instructions to a fabrication system configured to additively manufacture the dental appliance by fabricating the shell based on the first digital representation, concurrently with fabricating the at least one integrally formed component based on the second digital representation.

The present invention relates to a method of providing a graft scaffold for cartilage repair, particularly in a human patient. The method of the invention comprising the steps of providing particles and/or fibres; providing an aqueous solution of a gelling polysaccharide; providing mammalian cells; mixing said particles and/or fibres, said aqueous solution of a gelling polysaccharide and said mammalian cells to obtain a printing mix; and depositing said printing mix in a three-dimensional form. The invention further relates to graft scaffolds and grafts obtained by the method of the invention.

Systems and methods may support build direction-based partitioning for construction of a physical object through additive manufacturing. In some implementations, a system may access a surface mesh representative of a 3D object and an initial build direction for construction of the object using additive manufacturing. The system may partition the surface mesh into an initial buildable segment and a non-buildable segment based on the initial build direction. The system may iteratively determine subsequent build directions and partition off subsequent buildable segments from the unbuildable segment until no portion of the non-buildable segment remains. The determined buildable segments and correlated build directions may be provided to a multi-axis 3D printer for construction of the represented 3D object through additive manufacturing.

A method for generating a quote for fabrication of a part to be fabricated includes receiving, from a customer device associated with a customer, a design request for a part to be fabricated by a fabrication process, the design request including a two-dimensional drawing file representing the part to be fabricated and descriptive information including a descriptive datum. The method includes extracting a first feature from the 2D drawing file, wherein the first feature represents a geometry of the part to be fabricated. The method includes extracting a second feature from the descriptive information, wherein the second feature represents the descriptive datum. The method includes generating, as a function of the first and second features, a quote for fabrication for the part to be fabricated, the quote for fabrication including a cost and time to fabricate the part to be fabricated and sending the quote for fabrication to the customer.

A systematic approach to constructing process plans for hybrid manufacturing is provided. The process plans include arbitrary combinations of AM and SM processes. Unlike the suboptimal conventional practice, the sequence of AM and SM modalities is not fixed beforehand. Rather, all potentially viable process plans to fabricate a desired target part from arbitrary alternating sequences of pre-defined AM and SM modalities are explored in a systematic fashion. Once the state space of all process plans has been enumerated in terms of a partially ordered set of states, advanced artificial intelligence (AI) planning techniques are utilized to rapidly explore the state space, eliminate invalid process plans, for instance, process plans that make no physical sense, and optimize among the valid process plans using a cost function, for instance, manufacturing time and material or process costs.

A system and method for authenticating a physical object. The method may include the steps of: (1) encoding a feed material with randomized information; (2) forming the object with the feed material such that one or more portions of the object have respective randomized signatures based upon at least some of the randomized information of the feed material; (3) reading the respective randomized signatures at the one or portions of the object; (4) creating a profile of the respective randomized signatures at the one or more portions of the object based upon information from the reading; (5) transporting the physical object to an authenticator, and transmitting the profile to the authenticator; (6) reading the respective randomized signatures at the one or more portions of the object by the authenticator; and (7) comparing the reading by the authenticator to the profile received by the authenticator to thereby authenticate the physical object.

The present disclosure various apparatuses, and systems for 3D printing. The present disclosure provides three-dimensional (3D) printing methods, apparatuses, software and systems for a step and repeat energy irradiation process; controlling material characteristics and/or deformation of the 3D object; reducing deformation in a printed 3D object; and planarizing a material bed.

A computer-implemented method of making a semi-custom product for a user, includes the steps of: (a) providing a set of data files, each data file representing a distinct variant of the product; (b) providing personal data from the user, the personal data including at least first and second distinct user attributes; (c) providing product preference data from the user, the product preference data including at least first and second distinct product attributes; and then (d) ranking the set of data files with (i) the personal data and (ii) the product preference data to identify a best fit data file, the best fit data file representing a variant of the product that most closely meets the product preference data based on the personal data.

A system for inspecting a structure includes a laser ultrasound device configured to direct laser light onto a surface of the structure that generates ultrasonic waves within the structure and to generate an array of ultrasound data representative of the ultrasonic waves. The system includes a robotic arm configured to move the laser light across the surface. The system includes a multiplex controller configured to trigger generation of the ultrasonic waves within the structure at an inspection location and to receive the array of ultrasound data for the inspection location. The system includes a computer system that includes a motion-control module configured to control movement of the laser light relative to the surface of the structure, a motion-tracking module configured determine when the laser light is at the inspection location, and an inspection module configured to process the array of ultrasound data to inspect the structure at the inspection location.

There are provided methods and systems for making or repairing a specified part. For example, there is provided a method for creating an optimized manufacturing process to make or repair the specified part. The method includes receiving data from a plurality of sources, the data including as-designed, as-manufactured, as-simulated, and as-tested data relative to one or more parts similar to the specified part. The method includes updating, in real time, a surrogate model corresponding with a physics-based model of the specified part, wherein the surrogate model forms a digital twin of the specified part. The method includes further updating the surrogate model with a model of manufactured variance associated with at least one of inspection and in-operation data of a similar part. The method includes executing, based on the digital twin, the optimized manufacturing process to either repair or make the specified part.