Research team at the University of Washington has invented MobiPrint, a smart 3D printer capable of autonomously roaming rooms and printing directly onto their surfaces. Funded by the National Science Foundation, the project features a mind-blowing technology, developed on a modified consumer vacuum base and equipped with LiDAR. MobiPrint allows users to create customized designs for their specific environments, taking the very concept of in-home personalization to a new level. Presented at this year’s edition of Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology, MobiPrint’s potential applications span from accessibility improvements to next-gen interior design.
Before 3D printing an object, MobiPrint independently moves around an indoor space and uses LiDAR to measure it. The design tool created by the team then turns the resulting map into an interactive canvas. All that is left to do is to select a 3D model from the MobiPrint library or upload a desirable design.
Next, you simply pick a location on the map to print the object, working with the design interface to scale and position the job. As the last step, the robot moves to the location and prints the object onto the floor, using an eco-friendly PLA bioplastic.
Ideally, researchers would like the invention to remove the freshly printed objects and recycle the plastic in the future. They also explore the chances to print on other surfaces, such as tabletops or walls, with a wider range of materials, and not just indoors.
One of the printer’s creators, doctoral student Daniel Campos Zamora, considers that digital fabrication, like 3D printing, is in its mature phase, and adds: “Now we’re asking: How can we push it further… tailor spaces for people’s specific needs – for accessibility, for taste?”
MobiPrint’s versatility allows it to create accessibility ramps and tactile markers for low-vision individuals, becoming a great solution for daily challenges.
Hopefully, at some point it would become possible to send MobiPrint down the street to build virtually anything for a truly reconfigurable environment.
