Case Study
Last year, at Conestoga College, a group of students from the Manufacturing Engineering Welding and Robotics Program worked on a research project focused on determining whether it was possible to do Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing.
One year later, Ian Baxter & Tristan Danzinger, Conestoga College students from the same program, had an interest in a fairly new technology that has been revolutionizing manufacturing and welding processes around the globe: Offline Robotic Programming (OLP)
Ian and Tristan took the previous welding process and parameter research on additive manufacturing and changed how the robot was programmed. The tech project was extended to determine how much easier it would be to use offline programming software to perform Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing using OCTOPUZ Offline Robotic Programming and Simulation Software.
This project utilized a FANUC ARC Mate 100iC with a Lincoln Electric power supply and welding equipment. As it pertains to software, Ian and Tristan used Solidworks to create the part, Slic3r to slice the part and create the G-Code, and OCTOPUZ to interpret the code generated by Slic3r and post the code to the robot.
When asked about their final findings, Ian and Tristan explained their shortfalls and their successes.
Both students expressed the value of the inclusion of this project in their program’s curriculum. Not only did they employ their project management, time management, and teamwork skills but they were exposed to what it is like to work with a sponsor and an external party. This research project allowed the students the opportunity to explore their interests and work on something independent from other groups in the program.
In addition, we asked Tristan and Ian about their post-graduate plans to which they both expressed an interest in working in the robotics field and are both avidly looking for the perfect fit for their future.
The OCTOPUZ Team would like to thank Ian and Tristan for their hard work and wish them the best with their future!