Role of Feedback in the Asymptotic Self-Repair Behavior of a 3D Printer

An experiment where a 3D printer attempts to repair itself by printing a sequence of increasing-in-quality parts is presented and analyzed. Perturbations are added to some parts of the mechanical structures in the printer to simulate damaged or worn-out parts. Mathematical modeling and simulations are used to predict the asymptotic behavior of the self-repair process after many repair attempts. We show that—in most cases—the system converges to a non-ideal state and validations are presented. Finally, a controller is designed and added to the system, and its benefits to the self-repair process are studied.