The Element: monitor robox online (and they promise a lot more I guess)

[pelgrim @pelgrim My Robox is a Green Kickstarter Early Bird]

for those who are now experimenting with online monitoring of their robox,
The element has appeared on kickstater.

I’m interested what you all think of this.

java (EE), JavaFX, HTML, GIS) programmer, database wizard, framework inventor, looking for a job ! http://roboxing.com/wizards

[Andy S @andylion My Robox is a Blue Commercial Version]

It’s a neat idea and a slick pitch, though there isn’t much else to actually show there and I would have some concerns:

It allows starting jobs from “anywhere in the world” but there is no mention of a camera to actually see if it is printing right or if the job needs to be cancelled - potentially quite a problem if you cant actually get to it.

It might not work with the robox or at least would need to have support added, with no idea if that would ever happen.

They say it has a cutting edge proprietary slicing engine, but how do we know it will actually work better (or even as well as) any existing one that it replaces?

Likewise they talk about how good there new 3d model site will be, but don’t mention if they will integrate any other sites or if you will be forced to download and feed in models manually if you don’t go direct through them.

 

Given that automaker is already attempting to ease usability, I think what I really want is something low-power that allows automaker to connect remotely and allows a camera to watch what the printer is doing. To that end the raspberry pi node idea is much more attractive to me than this is.

The idea of setting up a queue and access from anywhere in an office is quite neat, but as 3d printers need to be tidied up between jobs it doesn’t feel like it will really work seamlessly like a traditional printer queue would.

So overall some neat ideas but I’m not sure who it is really aimed at or what problems it will really solve.

[CecilePrintr @cecileprintr I don't have a Robox :(]

Hey guys!

Cecile here, co-founder of Printr. We’d love to answer all your questions about The Element on our forum. There you can talk directly to our developers and give your feedback. Hope this helps!

[Ed @edthehorse]

I like.

but

- no camera
- does it analyze & include this into the print process?
- a virtual time-laps function….sounds useless without camera
- can it calculate print & energy costs?
- .stl editing software would be a plus
- does it have a robotarm which gets the print and cleans the printer ??
- price is ok ~ meh

u can copy what i wrote into ur forum, i will not make an account for my comment.
Cheers

[Pete @pete My Robox is a Blue Commercial Version]

We have plans and have a built in some groundwork for web connectivity to AutoMaker.
Monitoring a print in progress and getting stats about the print is fairly easy. You might remember our Kickstarter plan for a future device to control Robox. These drawings are old but you get the idea.

[click @click My Robox is a Green Kickstarter Limited Edition]

It, kind of, already works for Robox - along with the web cam (Pi Cam) and ability to pause/stop print: https://github.com/natdan/rbx-toolset

Definitively works from OSX, Raspberry Pi and some of the well established Linux distros.

[CecilePrintr @cecileprintr I don't have a Robox :(]

Hi Ed,

Apologies for the late reply, I just saw your message. Below are the answers to your questions:

– no camera: Camera support is now standard with The Element.

– does it analyze & include this into the print process?
Could you elaborate on your question? I’m not certain what you’re asking here.

– a virtual time-laps function….sounds useless without camera
As said, camera support is now standard.

– can it calculate print & energy costs?
Interesting idea! We’ll discuss it with the development team, however it might be quite difficult with all the dependencies (ex. efficiency of your power supply, which printer, kWh, filament costs)

– .stl editing software would be a plus
You can drag & drop a .stl file into the platform and edit it anyway you like from within your browser.

– does it have a robotarm which gets the print and cleans the printer ??
LOL!! Unfortunately not, but very nice idea

Hope this helps!

- Cecile

[Ed @edthehorse]

@cecileprintr

– does it analyze & include this into the print process?
Could you elaborate on your question? I’m not certain what you’re asking here.

my thought was, having control over the g-code & settings and profiles, means somebody has to know the printer write code for it and upload updated code to the devices thru the web or manual. Of course i don’t know about the process to accomplish this. So i thought if the element could analyse the printer in a testing print process and see how it behaves in regards to exotic materials and different printing styles. For this a camera is again needed and additional machine vision algorithms.

So now i have a new question
- How about implementing temperature analysing tools for the environment around the printer like humidity, heat etc. ?

thank you tho

• This reply was modified 3 months, 2 weeks ago by  Ed.

[Steve N @discosteve My Robox is a Blue Commercial Version]

Did someone say Robot Arm?

Amongst my collection of ‘interesting IT stuff’ I’ve got one of these

And one of these too

I’ve wondered of late if I can combine the two together to rig together a grabbing arm that can see what its picking up….

(and therefore open a Robox cover and pull a completed print off the bed!)

Steve N | Creator of things both virtual and physical

[click @click My Robox is a Green Kickstarter Limited Edition]

@discosteve you hit it spot on. That’s my daydream. I already managed to get Robox start printing using AM, then take USB from my laptop to RPi sitting next to you, upload gcode again to RPi (for monitoring progress) and leave house and use my mobile to capture pics (every 5 seconds) and see how far it got though the gcode (with simple and completely inaccurate estimate how much more).

All worked perfectly (for one print - my mac stand) before AM 1.01 arrived. I did quickly try it out and it seemed to be working but not as consistently any more and I didn’t have enough time to return and fix it. BTW it was monitored using RPi and RPi camera mounted at two servos - so I was able to turn it to right side if there was something suspicious.

Only thing I didn’t have is robotic arm - which I, again, see it as being made to use servos driven from same RPi again.

If I am to have a week, just one week, free - I would finish it all and make complete solution for all (open source/hardware), but now having moving target (Robox firmware updates) and no info from CEL but painstaking try and error + in the meantime I dedicated to something else - it suffers and just sits in a corner waiting for better time…

[Ed @edthehorse]

O M G YEA !!!!!!!!! do u know about the 3d printing robot arm =D ????!!!!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/535786699/flxarm-low-cost-precision-robotic-arm

[Steve N @discosteve My Robox is a Blue Commercial Version]

nice…
somewhat more accurate than the £30 yellow Maplin special I have - there’s far to much slop in its motor gears - and they are ordinary DC motors not stepper motors….

Steve N | Creator of things both virtual and physical

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