ASTRA: Robotic 3D Printer
In the fall of 2020, I began working on ASTRA - a large scale additive manufacturing machine featuring an extrusion system attached to a six axis robotic arm and integrated with an autonomous material delivery system - with a team of three engineers. ASTRA can handle a variety of thermoplastic composite pellets as print material and print up to 7.5 meters in diameter and 3 meters tall. It consists of six main subsystems, described below in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Fully integrated ASTRA system
ASTRA officially launched in the summer of 2022. Below are a few projects printed with ASTRA
Figure 2: This 3D printed brain was modeled from MRI scans of a real human brain. Measuring 560mm x 670mm x 370mm tall, it is ASTRA’s most geometrically complex print to date.
Figure 3: Brain 3D printed from glass fiber reinforced polypropylene
Make it stand out
Figure 4: This structurally efficient bridge design spans 16 feet and is only 3/4” thick. 600lbs printed in 7.5 hours, it was load tested and proved capable of holding 2000lbs.