Dimensions of Smart Additive Manufacturing

Additive manufacturing (AM) has matured in parallel with advances in computation. This is not a coincidence as taking advantage of the structural freedom afforded by AM requires detailed calculations and an ability to design and process complex structures in three dimensions. However, the ability to program AM systems is not the only way in which computation, and more recently machine learning, have impacted AM as a field. In fact, recent years have seen a number of innovations in AM that have endowed the process with varying degrees of ‘intelligence’ in distinct ways. While many of these are connected, several of these approaches to smart AM are wholly distinct in that they advance different aspects of the state-of-the-art. Our goal in this editorial is to highlight three such dimensions of intelligence in AM and connect them to articles in this special issue of Advanced Intelligent Systems that discuss innovations along these dimensions. These dimensions include advances in the materials and structures produced by AM to make them smarter or more functional, advances in processing to produce better and more reliable products, and advances in using AM as an ecosystem that is more agile and capable than traditional manufacturing (Figure 1).