Integration of a multi-directional wire arc additive manufacturing system with an automated process planning algorithm

•This study developed a novel path planning algorithm for multi-directional wire arc additive manufacturing.•The automated path planning algorithm is integrated with robotic WAAM hardware to broaden its industrial applications.•A new concept, collision matrix, is proposed as a heuristic to reduce the complexity of the robotic path planning process.•The integrated WAAM system is verified through the deposition of a sample part with complex geometrical features.