Ulendo Puts University of Michigan Research Into the Hands of Makers to Double 3D Printing Output

The first low-cost 3D printer — known as RepRap — was invented over a decade and a half ago, yet consumer 3D printing is still very much in its infancy. It is currently the realm of dedicated enthusiasts, unlike printing a document on a conventional 2D paper printer, which is accessible to even the most non-technical user. Entire subcultures dedicated to benchmarking and tuning and achieving difficult prints exist, as well as countless blog posts, how-tos, and products for improving printing results. And one of the most common solutions to printing problems has been turned on its head by Ulendo, a spin-off of the Mechatronics Program at the University of Michigan: instead of slowing down for more reliable prints, Ulendo says: speed up!

Conventional solutions to ringing, ghosting, and layer shifting include printing at lower speeds/accelerations or using S-curve acceleration in firmware, all of which increase print time, or making physical modifications to stiffen printers and reduce vibration — increasing cost and weight. Or of course, you can just buy more printers to increase bandwidth if money is no obstacle! Ulendo leverages the printer that you have, with no hardware modifications, reducing vibrations via software, using a patented algorithm called filtered B-splines that was developed at the University of Michigan.

The algorithm is applied to G-code in the cloud, then fed to the printer's Marlin firmware via a Raspberry Pi (3B or greater) — similar to OctoPrint and other printer controllers. In testing, print quality is maintained at up to twice the default speed of the printer (and up to 20X acceleration), cutting print times in half.

After years of research, by popular demand, Ulendo have launched on Kickstarter to put the power of this cutting-edge technology in the hands of makers.