I had the opportunity to work with the Robotic Materials Group in their research lab during my Sophomore and Junior years at WPI. My main focus was researching 3D printing solutions for soft robots, soft robot materials, and their actuation. I built a custom 3D printer for the lab that would later be updated to print elastomeric materials and soft robots. I utilized the open source firmware, Marlin 2.0 to include additional features such as automatic bed leveling and software endstops.
Another project I completed was a management and organization system for the many existing 3D printers in the lab. I designed and built a low-cost shelving solution for the printers, and connected each printer with a camera attached to a centralized server. This server utilized Repetier’s open source software to allow lab researchers to start, edit, and monitor prints from anywhere, at any time, to any of the lab’s printers. Cameras were converted to IP webcams to allow for a live stream for the easy viewing of print jobs.