Automated Inspection in Robotic 3D Printing (2025-11)¶

Automated geometrical inspection during robotic layer deposition remains a major challenge in the field of construction three-dimensional (3D) printing. Existing methods are mainly designed for postprocess inspection or fail to deliver accurate real-time measurements. This study presents an innovative measurement methodology leveraging structured light machine vision. The proposed system incorporates a two-dimensional (2D) camera and a laser light pattern projected onto the extrudate, combined with a novel processing algorithm for continuous width and height measurements. The results showed that the proposed algorithm successfully produces measurements for various single-layer and multilayer extrudates with submillimeter precision and a 0.2-s processing time across three different lighting conditions. Additionally, a baseline 2D vision measurement system without active lighting was implemented for comparative analysis. Overall, the findings prove the superior accuracy and versatility of the proposed structured light machine vision methodology in performing real-time inspection across varying lighting conditions and extrudate configurations, outperforming existing methods.