Obico transforms 3D printing with AI-powered monitoring – Interview with founder Kenneth Jiang

Obico, previously known as The Spaghetti Detective, is a platform dedicated to making 3D printing more efficient and reliable through advanced technology. Founded with the aim of supporting the global maker community, Obico offers a powerful AI-driven platform for monitoring and controlling 3D printers remotely. In an interview with 3Druck.com, founder Kenneth Jiang offers valuable insights into the 3D printing software space, highlighting how AI will transform the technology.

The Obico app not only allows users to oversee their printing projects in real-time but also employs AI to detect issues, sending alerts and pausing prints to avoid wasted time and materials. This makes 3D printing more accessible, especially for beginners, by reducing the complexity and potential for errors.

Obico emphasises an open and transparent approach, encouraging community feedback and collaboration to continuously enhance its features. By fostering this interactive relationship with its users, Obico aims to not only simplify the 3D printing process but also inspire creativity and innovation within the maker community.

Interview with Kenneth Jiang

In an interview with 3Druck.com, Kenneth Jiang, founder of Obico, discusses the critical role of advanced software in the adoption of 3D printing, highlighting how AI-driven innovations at Obico have made 3D printing more accessible and less daunting. He also highlights the impact of the open source community in driving advances in 3D printing and identifies the innovations he considers most important.

How crucial do you believe innovative and advanced software is to the adoption of 3D printing?

We believe innovative and advanced software will be the key to the adoption of 3D printing in the next few years. 3D printing hardware has rapidly matured over the past several years, especially with the advent of Bambu Lab. However, most 3D printing software seems to still be stuck in the 1990s. Even for the most successful softwares such as OrcaSlicer or Klipper, makers need to go through a non-trivial learning curve to be able to set them up or use them effectively. This is exactly the problem we are trying to solve in Obico. And I believe we have done a decent job so far, making 3D printing more accessible and less intimidating by providing features like AI-powered monitoring, remote control, and real-time failure detection.

These innovations not only help users achieve better results but also reduce the learning curve and frustration often associated with 3D printing. By improving the overall experience and reliability of 3D printing, advanced software drives broader adoption and makes it easier for more people to embrace this technology in their creative and professional projects.

In your opinion, how has the open source community had an impact on the development and accessibility of 3D printing technology?

The open-source community has had a massive impact on the development and accessibility of 3D printing technology. We wouldn’t have had MakerBot or Prusa had there been no RepRap. Most printers would still be stuck at 50mm/s printing speed if Kevin O’Connor had open-sourced Klipper (Obico is a proud sponsor of Kevin O’Connor and his project). By sharing designs, software, and ideas openly, the community has driven innovation at a pace that would be hard to achieve in a more closed environment. Open-source projects have made 3D printing more affordable and customisable, allowing anyone to tweak and improve their setup.

This collaborative spirit has lowered the barriers to entry, making 3D printing more accessible to people who might not have had the resources to get involved otherwise. It’s pretty amazing how the open-source community has helped democratise 3D printing, turning it into a tool that’s available to everyone, not just large companies or experts.

While the open-source community has driven incredible advancements in 3D printing, it hasn’t been without its challenges. One of the biggest hurdles is sustainability – keeping projects alive and well-supported over time can be tough when they rely on volunteer contributions. Additionally, the lack of funding and resources can sometimes slow down development or limit the ability to offer the same level of polish and support that commercial software provides.

3D printing has developed continuously over the last few years. Which innovations or technological breakthroughs do you consider to be particularly important in the field of software?

Over the past several years, Klipper has been the most significant breakthrough in 3D printing. It uses software to optimise 3D printer performance by offloading complex calculations from the printer’s microcontroller to a more capable Raspberry Pi or similar device, enabling faster, smoother, and more precise printing.

Looking forward, AI has the potential to be a real game-changer in 3D printing, opening up some exciting possibilities for the future. The engineers at Obico and other teams have so far developed AI technologies for smart monitoring and quality control. For instance, we just released Nozzle Ninja, a Transformer-based AI model that can give an accurate grade to your first layer quality based on images from a nozzle camera. But given how quickly AI technologies are changing, we believe the real potential for the application of AI in 3D printing is still ahead of us. To speculate a little, for instance, we might see AI algorithms being used to not only detect problems, but also to correct them in real time.

AI could also play a key role in optimising the design and slicing process. It might be able to analyse a model and suggest tweaks to improve strength, reduce material usage, or speed up print times – tasks that currently require a lot of manual trial and error. It’s not even crazy to imagine a world where most 3D models are created by AI.

What impact do you think 3D printing will possibly have on society as a whole in the coming years?

3D printing could seriously shake things up in the next few years. We might start seeing more stuff being made on-demand and closer to home, which means less waste and more customisation. Imagine getting products that are tailor-made just for you, without the need for huge factories or long shipping times. In healthcare, it could be a game-changer too—think personalised prosthetics! Overall, 3D printing has the potential to make life more efficient, sustainable, and personalised, affecting everything from how we shop to how we treat illnesses.

Here you can find more information on Obico.