Systems and methods of machine vision assisted additive fabrication

Abstract

The present application relates generally to systems and methods for using machine vision to provide information on one or more aspects of an additive fabrication device, such as calibration parameters and/or an object formed by the device or in the process of being formed by the device. According to some aspects, a method is provided for calibrating an additive fabrication device. According to some aspects, a method is provided for assessing at least a portion of an object formed using an additive fabrication device. According to some aspects, a method is provided for fabricating a second object in contact with a first object using an additive fabrication device. According to some aspects, an additive fabrication device configured to perform one or more of the above methods may be provided.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of fabricating an object formed using an additive fabrication device, the additive fabrication device comprising a build platform and a sensing device, the method comprising:
 forming a first portion of the object on the build platform via additive fabrication;   
       sensing a surface of the first portion of the object with the sensing device;
 determining a depth map of the surface of the first portion of the object based at least in part on a result of said sensing; and 
 generating a model of a second portion of the object to be formed in contact with the first portion, wherein the generating is based at least in part on the determined depth map of the surface of the first portion of the object and based at least in part on a three-dimensional model of the object. 
 
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising forming the second portion of the object on the first portion of the object via additive fabrication. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein forming the second portion of the object comprises forming a plurality of layers of material. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein a surface of the second portion of the object exhibits a smaller depth variation than the surface of the first portion of the object. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein sensing the surface of the first portion of the object comprises:
 capturing a first image of the surface of the first portion using the sensing device, the first image captured when the surface of the first portion is a first distance from the sensing device; and
 capturing a second image of the surface of the first portion by the sensing device, the second image captured when the surface of the first portion is a second distance from the sensing device, different from the first distance. 
   
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sensing device comprises an optical coherence tomography scanner. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein forming the first portion of the object comprises:
 forming a subset of the first portion of the object on the build platform via additive fabrication;   determining a depth map of a surface of the subset of the first portion of the object; and   forming a remainder of the first portion of the object on the subset of the first portion of the object based at least in part on the determined depth map.