Turning a 2 ton robot into a 3D-printer

This advanced manufacturing system repurposes a heavy-duty ABB IRB6400 industrial robot arm to function as a large-scale 3D printer. The conversion relies on integrating a Creality Sprite Pro Direct Drive Extruder, mounted via a custom bracket, onto the end-effector of the robotic arm to handle polymer deposition using PLA filament. To control the extrusion process and coordinate movement, the hardware architecture centers around an Arduino Mega 2560 paired with a RAMPS 1.4 shield. Standard slicing software such as Prusa Slicer or Orca Slicer generates conventional G-code for the print job, which is then managed through Repetier Host. Because an industrial robot understands RAPID code rather than standard desktop 3D printer G-code, a custom coordinate-streaming script translates the toolpath instructions in real-time, commanding the ABB IRB6400's multi-axis joints to follow the translated trajectory while the Arduino RAMPS board simultaneously regulates the extruder motor and hotend temperature. Optionally, a RevoPoint Metro Y 3D-scanner can be used beforehand to scan physical models, bridging the digital-to-physical workflow for oversized additive manufacturing tasks.