Freeform Design

3D printing technology continues to improve in resolution, speed, quality, and the number of materials available. In addition, using digital materials and other processes, it is possible to combine materials of differing material properties in any spatial orientation. This means the design space available to engineers is increasing exponentially, and conventional design software and methods are insufficient to fully utilize it. Using genetic algorithms it is possible to autonomously design the 3D blueprint of a multi-material object based on high-level functional goals. These could include supporting a load, or deflecting in a certain way or even a locomoting robot. Hiller, J., and Lipson, H. (2010) "Evolving Amorphous Robots", 12th Int. Conference on Artificial Life (Alife XII), Odense, Denmark, August 2010, pp. 717-724.Hiller, J., Lipson, H., (2009) "Multi Material Topological Optimization of Structures and Mechanism", Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO'09), pp. 1521-1528. Hiller, J., Lipson, H. (2009) "Design Automation for Multi-Material Printing" Solid Freeform Fabrication Symposium (SFF'09), Aug 3-5 2009, Austin, TX, USA Tolley, M. T., Hiller, J., Lipson, H. (2009) "Evolutionary Design and Assembly Planning for Stochastic Modular Robots", IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), Oct. 11-15 2009, St. Louis, MO, USA.