Low-Level Control of 3D Printers from the Cloud: A Step toward 3D Printer Control as a Service
Low-Level Control of 3D Printers from the Cloud: A Step toward 3D Printer Control as a Service
复制标题
从云端对 3D 打印机进行低级控制：迈向 3D 打印机控制即服务的一步
作者：
C. Okwudire;S. Huggi;Sagar Supe;Chengyang Huang;Bowen Zeng
控制即服务 (CaaS) 是一种新兴范例，其中设备的低级控制从本地控制器转移到云端，并作为按需服务提供给设备。 CaaS 具有众多优势，其中之一是让设备能够访问先进的控制算法，由于计算限制，这些算法可能无法在本地控制器上执行。作为迈向 3D 打印机 CaaS 的一步，本文演示了通过将低级步进电机命令（而不是高级 G 代码）直接从云端传输到打印机来控制 3D 打印机。该打印机位于密歇根大学安娜堡分校，其步进电机命令是使用在南卡罗来纳州和澳大利亚的谷歌云计算机上运行的先进运动控制算法计算的。步进电机命令使用用户数据报协议 (UDP) 通过互联网发送，并进行缓冲以减少传输延迟；包括检查以确保传输数据的准确性和完整性。除一个部件外，在两个地点使用基于云的控制器打印的所有部件均顺利（即，不会因传输延迟过多而导致暂停）。此外，使用基于云的控制器，零件的打印速度比使用标准本地控制器的速度提高了 54%，且精度没有损失。
Control as a Service (CaaS) is an emerging paradigm where low-level control of a device is moved from a local controller to the Cloud, and provided to the device as an on-demand service. Among its many benefits, CaaS gives the device access to advanced control algorithms which may not be executable on a local controller due to computational limitations. As a step toward 3D printer CaaS, this paper demonstrates the control of a 3D printer by streaming low-level stepper motor commands (as opposed to high-level G-codes) directly from the Cloud to the printer. The printer is located at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, while its stepper motor commands are calculated using an advanced motion control algorithm running on Google Cloud computers in South Carolina and Australia. The stepper motor commands are sent over the internet using the user datagram protocol (UDP) and buffered to mitigate transmission delays; checks are included to ensure accuracy and completeness of the transmitted data. All but one part printed using the cloud-based controller in both locations were hitch free (i.e., no pauses due to excessive transmission delays). Moreover, using the cloud-based controller, the parts printed up to 54% faster than using a standard local controller, without loss of accuracy.