A system for additive metal manufacturing, including a deposition mechanism, a translation mechanism mounting the deposition mechanism to the working volume, and a stage. A method for additive metal manufacturing including: selectively depositing a material carrier within the working volume; removing an additive from the material carrier; and treating the resultant material.

A robot system is configured to fabricate three-dimensional (3D) objects using closed-loop, computer vision-based control. The robot system initiates fabrication based on a set of fabrication paths along which material is to be deposited. During deposition of material, the robot system captures video data and processes that data to determine the specific locations where the material is deposited. Based on these locations, the robot system adjusts future deposition locations to compensate for deviations from the fabrication paths. Additionally, because the robot system includes a 6-axis robotic arm, the robot system can deposit material at any locations, along any pathway, or across any surface. Accordingly, the robot system is capable of fabricating a 3D object with multiple non-parallel, non-horizontal, and/or non-planar layers.

A method of solid free form fabrication (SFF) is disclosed. The method comprises: receiving SFF data collectively pertaining to a three-dimensional shape of the object and comprising a plurality of slice data each defining a layer of the object. The method also comprises, for each of at least a few of the layers, dispensing a building material on a receiving medium, straightening the building material, and selectively ablating the building material according to respective slice data.

A system and method for manufacturing and authenticating an additively manufactured component are provided. The method includes forming a surface around a cross sectional layer and introducing localized surface variations to the surface. The localized surface variations are configured for generating a unique acoustic wave response that defines a component identifier of the component. The method further includes exciting the surface of the component at an excitation region using an excitation source and interrogating the surface at an excitation region of the component at an interrogation region using a vibration sensor. The acoustic wave response may be compared to a stored component identifier in a database for authenticating components.

A method and a system of three-dimensional (3D) printing are provided. The method of 3D printing is adapted to a 3D printing apparatus and includes following steps: slicing a 3D object model into a plurality of sub-slicing layers according to a printing plane; merging a default number of adjacent sub-slicing layers into a plurality of grey-scale slicing layers; and, printing a 3D object according to the grey-scale slicing layers. The thickness of each sub-slicing layer is thinner than the thickness of a default layer used whenever the 3D printing apparatus performs a single printing process. The thickness of each of the grey-scale slicing layers is equal to the thickness of the default layer used whenever the 3D printing apparatus performs the single printing process.

The present invention relates to a method of producing a dental restoration from a partially-sintered or non-sintered blank using a three-dimensional dental restoration model, comprising the steps of: generating at least one or more first milling path for rough and/or fine milling; determining areas or zones of increased stress in the three-dimensional dental restoration model and generating at least one modified milling path; machining the blank by milling utilizing one or more first milling paths; selectively machining parts of the blank utilizing at least one modified milling path; and sintering the machined blank.

A method of solid free form fabrication (SFF) is disclosed. The method comprises: receiving SFF data collectively pertaining to a three-dimensional shape of the object and comprising a plurality of slice data each defining a layer of the object. The method also comprises, for each of at least a few of the layers, dispensing a building material on a receiving medium, straightening the building material, and selectively ablating the building material according to respective slice data.

A system for additive metal manufacturing, including a deposition mechanism, a translation mechanism mounting the deposition mechanism to the working volume, and a stage. A method for additive metal manufacturing including: selectively depositing a material carrier within the working volume; removing an additive from the material carrier; and treating the resultant material.

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and apparatus for adjusting at least one actuator using at least one control output value to control a plasma processing system. More specifically, the controlling is based on receiving a reference signal defining target values for a parameter that is controlled at an output within the plasma processing system; obtaining a measure of the parameter, where the parameter is measured at a first sampling frequency; calculating one or more internal control signal values at a second sampling frequency; predicting, using an internal model, one or more internal measurements of the controlled parameter at the second sampling frequency; and adjusting, based upon the one or more control output values, at least one actuator at the first sampling frequency, where the control output values are based on the internal control signal values and the predicted internal measurements.

This disclosure describes systems, methods, and apparatus for adjusting at least one actuator using at least one control output value to control a plasma processing system. More specifically, the controlling is based on receiving a reference signal defining target values for a parameter that is controlled at an output within the plasma processing system; obtaining a measure of the parameter, where the parameter is measured at a first sampling frequency; calculating one or more internal control signal values at a second sampling frequency; predicting, using an internal model, one or more internal measurements of the controlled parameter at the second sampling frequency; and adjusting, based upon the one or more control output values, at least one actuator at the first sampling frequency, where the control output values are based on the internal control signal values and the predicted internal measurements.