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iRobot's Autonomous All-In-One 3D Printing, Milling, Drilling & Finishing Robot
- bobbles 14y agoTitle seems pretty misleading since this is just a patent application and not an actual product.
- uvdiv 14y agoThe only thing that's not automated is the part that spits out frivolous patents.
- DannoHung 14y agoIf they're bringing something to market, even if not immediately, that can do this, it's not frivolous. There are a lot of serious technical challenges to be solved creating a machine that can function as described.
- okamiueru 14y agoI don't think "adding robotic arm to automate tasks" adds anything to the market worthy of a patent.
- uvdiv 14y agoPatenting an invention is orthogonal to commercialising it. The point of patents is to sell abstract ideas: the basic interaction is to license a patent to someone else. It's a coincidence if the same person who thinks up an invention, is also in a position to develop it fully. I think this meme -- that your patents are for your own products -- is an off-target response to patent trolling.
- DannoHung 14y agoPretty sure you don't have to license a patent to another party if you intend to produce something.
- Cogito 14y agoFirst reported at [0]. You can find the patent application at [1]. The basic claim is for a tool head and two 'manipulators' that, together, can add and remove 'components' and material from components. In particular, the two manipulators would provide for 6 dimensions of freedom for the tool head, and this seems to be the core of the application. [0] http://www.3ders.org/articles/20130123-irobot-filed-a-patent-for-autonomous-all-in-one-3d-printing-milling-drilling-and-finishing-robot.html http://www.3ders.org/articles/20130123-irobot-filed-a-patent... [1] http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsrchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=%2220130015596%22.PGNR.&OS=DN/20130015596&RS=DN/20130015596 http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sec...
- jobigoud 14y ago1. Add another module in the same vein as the filabot¹: something that creates plastic filament suitable for 3D printing from plastic waste. 2. Add an articulated arm to pick plastic waste and feed it to itself. 3. Send it on waste mountain. ¹ [http://filabot.com/ http://filabot.com/]
- pmorici 14y agoLets hope it works better than some of their other products. I tried their gutter cleaning robot once and it is hard to see how it could have worked for anyone.