System and workstation for the design, fabrication and assembly of bio-material constructs

A 3-D design, fabrication and assembly system comprising:

• a modeling component and a robotic assembly workstation component,
• a hardware processor coupled to a memory,
• the modeling component comprising
• a user interface, at least one suite of tools for performing an object operation selected from creating, editing, modeling, transforming, image property modulating, sketching, print supporting, simulating, material testing and combinations thereof,
• a material database, and
• software executable by the hardware processor and configured to cause the hardware processor, when executed by the hardware processor, to facilitate a method for designing a volumetric model of a construct at the user interface,
• the modeling component being operationally linked to the robotic assembly workstation component,
• the robotic assembly workstation component comprising
• a framed housing comprising
• a multi-axis robot comprising a robotic arm having a robotic arm effector component,
• a robotic controller,
• a material storage unit,
• a material dispensing system, and
• an adjustable print stage,
• wherein the material storage unit comprises at least one syringe barrel holder, each syringe barrel holder comprising multiple syringe barrels and at least one displacement sensor for ensuring correct seating of syringe barrels in the holder, and wherein the material storage unit further comprises and at least one needle detection sensor for detecting needle size and tip deflection,
• wherein the robotic arm effector component comprises a laser displacement sensor and the adjustable print stage comprises a leveling mechanism comprising a manual component enhanced by feedback from the laser displacement sensor, and
• wherein the robotic arm is configured to print material from a plurality of directions onto a surface of the adjustable print stage based on an adjustable movement of the robotic arm.