Upgrading 3D bioprinter capabilities for a global biotech company

Embedded Engineering

About the client

Company Name

CELLINK

Location

Sweden

Company size

200-500 employees

Industry

Healthcare

CELLINK (part of BICO) is a world-leading innovator in the development of bioprinters and biomaterials. Since developing the world’s first universal bioink, CELLINK has been combining biology, engineering, and computing to become a recognized equipment provider for bioscience research labs in over 65 countries.

The challenge

CELLINK was actively working on improvements in its existing 3D bioprinter models and developing new features for a new model. To speed up the delivery, the company looked for additional expertise in the various embedded technologies these devices rely on.

Boost development with broad embedded expertise

CELLINK’s 3D bioprinters are sophisticated embedded systems that involve various interconnected elements: MCU controlling the printheads, Qt applications for interaction with users, Linux OS connecting different processes. Working on them required engineers with a strong command of multiple embedded technologies.

Need for rapid time-to-market

The client’s goal was to upgrade the existing printers and have their new model market-ready as soon as possible. This included two key tasks: improving overall system performance and extending the capabilities of the bioprinters.

Delivered value

Enhanced device performance

CELLINK could observe smoother bioprinter operation as soon as bugs have been found and fixed in the existing feature set and component communication. Code refactoring helped eliminate system lag, optimize RAM usage, and simplify further codebase management. These adjustments reduced the number of errors during printing and increased the process accuracy.

Upgraded print functionality and customer portal

New features for the printers, Qt apps, and a customer portal upgraded the entire system functionality and usability. They included simplified 3D modeling for the tablet application, advanced printhead control possibilities, and the client portal feature enabling a secure connection with another client’s device.

The solution

First of all, CELLINK sent us their BIO X printer right away so the engineers could then integrate the changes and run issue fixes and new feature verification on real hardware. As soon as we received the device in our embedded lab, engineers started work on several system components:

Microcontroller

The “brain” of CELLINK’s bioprinters is the MCU running Marlin — a firmware used in the vast majority of 3D printers to control the printhead movements and actions. This technology allows the client to adapt the controller functionality to the specifics of bioprinters, such as refrigerated or gentle, low-pressure extrusion that helps keep cells alive, or to work with multiple material types in a single session.

Our engineers used their expertise in Marlin to help develop new functions in bioprinters, such as coaxial and mixing printing, and ensure these functions work properly.

Qt applications

The printers’ GUI (in BIO X models) and connected tablets run Qt applications that users can directly interact with to set up the printing process. Among the new functions for these applications, we worked on a feature that allows users to create 3D models from scratch on the tablet.

Qt is a cross-platform technology based on C++, so it is used for both user-facing applications — on the device GUI and on the tablet. Since the bioprinter models we worked on had different configurations, we used Qt widgets to develop the Windows app for the tablet and the QML technology for the onboard Qt apps.

Middleware

The Qt application communicates with the printer’s controller through the middleware with an embedded Linux OS. As the central connective element, it hosts multiple applications and services essential for the entire system. Expertise in Linux was handy for all work related to fixing bugs and delivering all new features. To ensure efficient data transmission between the system components, we relied on a predefined communication protocol.

Customer portal

To provide their clients with constant support, CELLINK created a customer portal running on Flutter Web. Our engineer helped to connect the front-end of the Z-stack files page to the back-end of another product, CELLCYTE X, an automated imaging platform. This allows users to securely monitor images taken by CELLCYTE X.

Services

Embedded Engineering

Embedded Linux

GUI Development

Technologies

C++

Embedded Linux

Marlin

MQTT

Flutter

How it works

3D modeling and print settings

Using the Qt app on the tablet, a user creates a 3D model or uploads a ready-to-use model of an object and sets up the printing configurations. Printing configurations can also be set up in the onboard GUI, if available in the model.

Data transfer

Print settings are transmitted to the bioprinter's middleware along with the prepared model.

Data processing

The middleware processes the received settings and print data from the Qt app, and sends the relevant commands to the microcontroller.

Printhead control

The MCU receives the command and manages the printheads so they move in the needed directions, extrude at the right pressure and temperature, and layer the biomaterial properly.