FLM PRINTER DESIGN ADAPTATIONS TO ENABLE MACHINE-TO-MACHINE INTERACTION FOR SELF-MAINTENANCE IN AN INDUSTRIAL ENVIRONMENT: A PROOF OF CONCEPT

Maintenance is a practice that has kept its importance since the invention of machines. However, issues like shortage of skilled workers, worker protection, and sustainability concerns (Antosz, 2018; Franciosi et al., 2021; Holgado et al., 2020) hinder maintenance. Self-maintenance (SM) is a promising concept for upkeeping machinery. Human interaction is redundant in this concept. However, the practical application remains low with only a few use cases since the concept was introduced (Umeda & Tomiyama, 2016). The thesis builds on the concept by implementing SM tasks into a Fused Layer Modeling (FLM) printer. The design of a FLM printer is adapted to utilize machine-to-machine (M2M) interaction to prove the feasibility of SM. The goal of the research is to make maintenance through robots easier by utilizing M2M interaction achieved by design adaptations. Using three-dimensional computer-aided (3D CAD) design software, the design phase created a digital prototype of the design adaptations. The adjustment mechanism to tension the belt of the y-axis and the printing nozzle are adapted. The realized design alternatives are further evaluated using a multi-criteria decision-making method. The results emphasize the importance of designing maintenance tasks for M2M interaction to enable SM.