One of the most important parts of our system is the ability to detect failures during printing. For this reason, we have integrated Obico, an intelligent monitoring platform for 3D printers.
What is Obico?
Obico is an open-source platform for monitoring and remote control of 3D printers. Its main advantage is the use of artificial intelligence to analyze images from the printer’s camera and detect possible failures, such as adhesion errors, filament buildup, or the infamous “spaghetti” effect.
When a problem is detected, Obico can send notifications to the user and, depending on the configuration, can also automatically pause the print. This helps reduce material waste, prevent damage to the printer, and make the printing process safer and more autonomous.
Why is Obico important for our project?
Our system aims to automate not only the start of prints, but also the removal of parts at the end and the preparation of the printer for the next task. However, for this process to be reliable, we need to ensure that printing proceeds correctly.
Without a failure detection system, the printer could continue printing even after the part has come loose from the bed or a serious failure has occurred. This could compromise the entire automatic cycle.
With Obico, we now have an additional layer of safety:
- remote monitoring of the printer;
- automatic failure detection through the camera;
- ability to pause printing in case of error;
- sending notifications to the user;
- integration with the printer management system.
Implementation on the printer computer
The printer used in the project is based on Klipper and communicates with the system through Moonraker, which acts as an intermediate layer between the printer firmware and interfaces such as Fluidd or Mainsail.
The integration of Obico was done through Moonraker-Obico, an agent that runs directly on the printer computer. This agent allows the printer to be connected to the Obico platform and sends information about the printing status, camera image, and important events.
In general, the implementation followed these steps:
- Access to the printer computer via SSH;
- Installation of the Moonraker-Obico agent;
- Configuration of the
moonraker-obico.cfgfile; - Connecting the printer to the Obico account;
- Validation of camera transmission;
- Testing remote monitoring and failure detection.
After installation, Obico began receiving video from the printer’s camera and print status data. This allows us to monitor the process remotely and receive alerts if something goes wrong.
Cloud vs Self-Hosted
One of the advantages of Obico is that it can be used in two different ways: through the official cloud or through a self-hosted installation.
Obico Cloud
The cloud version is the simplest way to get started. In this mode, the printer communicates with Obico’s servers, allowing you to access the printer from anywhere through the app or browser.
This option is ideal for quick setup because it doesn’t require installing your own server. However, it may have limitations associated with the plan used and depends on Obico’s external infrastructure.
Obico Self-Hosted
In the self-hosted version, the Obico server is installed on your own machine, such as a local server, dedicated computer, or private infrastructure.
This option gives you more control over your data and system infrastructure. For a project like ours, this possibility is especially interesting because it allows us to integrate Obico more directly with other internal services, such as a future printer management application.
The self-hosted solution can also be useful if you want to reduce external dependencies and keep the system running within the local network.
Advantages for the automated system
Obico integration brings several advantages to the project:
- increases print process safety;
- reduces filament waste;
- allows detecting failures without constant supervision;
- facilitates remote monitoring;
- creates a foundation for future integrations with our application;
- brings the system closer to an autonomous printing solution.
In the future, the information sent by Obico can be used by our system to make automatic decisions. For example, if Obico detects a failure and pauses the print, that information can be sent to our application, allowing us to record the error and prevent the system from advancing to automatic part removal.
Conclusion
The integration of Obico represents an important step in the development of our automated 3D printing system. In addition to enabling remote monitoring, it adds a layer of artificial intelligence capable of detecting failures during printing.
This functionality is essential to make the process more reliable, safe, and autonomous. By combining Obico with Klipper, Moonraker, and our automatic part removal system, we are getting closer to a solution capable of performing successive prints with minimal human intervention.