For anyone who wants to add Wi-Fi connectivity and remote control to 3D printer, there are already plenty choices, such as Octoprint, and Astroprint and Creality Box.
Based on what is already available, how can we further
improve user experience?
1. Serial Connection is slow and prone to compatibility issue.
2. Robustness - Linux based systems often require shutdown process. Running Full OS off SD Card is prone to long term issue
3. Some solutions require cloud service which can be slow to transfer print files, and pose potential security and privacy issues.
4 . Affordability – With increasing price, Pi4 and Pi Zero prices have increased significantly since 2020.
5 . Lack of I/O extensively to connect peripherals to further improve printing experience
To meet the above challenges, we decided to build a MCU
based solution with tightly integrated software and we called it Node.