Collecting Branches

I collected small forked branches as natural objects to scan. Each one has a different Y- or V-shaped split, irregular bark texture, and knots that would be hard to model by hand.

Scanning Natural Objects

I placed each branch on a turntable and captured it with a handheld 3D scanner, scanning it in different orientations so the forks and undersides were fully covered.

Building the Dome (Python Grasshopper)

I wrote a Python script in Grasshopper that used the scanned branch meshes as building parts and arranged them into a dome structure.

To place the branches, I used a matching algorithm, the Hungarian algorithm. It solves the assignment problem: it pairs each item in one set with exactly one item in another so that the total cost of all pairs is as low as possible. Here, it matched each scanned fork to a node of the target network. The cost of each pair was the total angle difference between the fork's three arms and the node's three edges after the best rotation.

Slicing

I sliced the dome in Bambu Studio.

Printing

From the dome, I combined the matched branches into a full egg-shaped lattice.

I printed it on a Bambu Lab P2S with a 0.4 mm nozzle (standard flow), PLA Basic filament, and the 0.20 mm Standard profile: 0.2 mm layer height, 0.2 mm initial layer, and an aligned seam.

Final Result

The final print keeps the irregular forks, knots, and bark texture of the scanned branches.

Designing the Bot Modules

For the 3D printing assignment, I started building toward my final project: a bot made of modular pieces. I modeled rounded tetrahedral modules, each with a central opening and small pockets on its faces to hold magnets, so the pieces can attach to one another.

3D printing suits these modules better than subtractive fabrication. Their double-curved faces, magnet pockets on every side, and hollow, lightly infilled interior would be difficult to mill from a solid block, while the printer builds each one in a single piece.

The idea of reconfigurable modules also draws on projects like CuGo.

Slicing

I sliced four modules on one plate in Bambu Studio with PLA Basic, the 0.20 mm Standard profile, 10% sparse infill, and tree supports under the curved surfaces. The plate used about 210 g of filament (29 g of it support) and was estimated at about 6 hours.

Printing

The four modules printed together on a Bambu Lab P1S.

Assembling the Bot

After removing the supports, I pressed magnets into the pockets and joined the modules. The magnetic joints let the pieces snap together and be rearranged into different configurations.

Next, I will learn to develop the motors and articulate the bot's movement, so the modules can move on their own instead of only being rearranged by hand.