AI-driven IoT 3D Printer Motion & Status Tracker W/ Telegram

I utilized BotFather to create a Telegram bot for this project. BotFather is an official Telegram bot that lets the user create and manage bots on Telegram without any coding required.

#️⃣ First of all, open BotFather on Telegram and enter /start to view the available command list and manuals.

#️⃣ Use the /newbot command to create a new bot. Enter the name of your bot when BotFather asks you for a name. It is displayed in contact details and elsewhere.

IoT 3D Printer Movement and Status Tracker

#️⃣ Then, enter the username of your bot. Usernames are 5-32 characters long and are case insensitive but may only include Latin characters, numbers, and underscores. They must end in ‘bot', e.g. ‘tetris_bot' or ‘TetrisBot'.

IoT_3D_printer_tracker_bot

#️⃣ After completing the steps above, BotFather generates an authorization token for your new bot. The authorization token is a string along the lines of 123456:ABC-DEF1234ghIkl-zyx57W2v1u123ew11 that is required to authorize the bot and send requests to the Telegram Bot API. Keep your token secure and store it safely.

#️⃣ Also, you can change your bot's profile picture by using the /setuserpic command.

#️⃣ Finally, to add a description to your bot to be displayed when the chat is initialized, use the /setdescription command.

Since I wanted to get only printer movements updates from the Raspberry Pi Pico, I did not need to establish an SSL connection to set a webhook for the Telegram Bot API to send information back to the web application.

However, I needed to obtain the chat id to be able to send updates to the Telegram bot via the Telegram Bot API directly without establishing an SSL connection or setting up a webhook.

To get the chat id, I utilized the getUpdates method, which shows incoming updates using long polling and returns an array of Update objects.

#️⃣ Navigate to this web page by using your bot's authorization token:

https://api.telegram.org/bot<_token_>/getUpdates

#️⃣ Then, send a message to your bot and refresh the page. It will display an object list, including the chat id:

chat ➡ id ➡ 1496498083

Step 5: Developing a Web Application in PHP to Send Updates to the Bot Via the Telegram Bot API

After creating my Telegram bot successfully, I decided to develop a web application in PHP, named telegram_3D_printer_bot, so as to receive printer movements from the Raspberry Pi Pico, process them to detect malfunctions, and send updates to the Telegram bot.

As shown below, the web application consists of one file and has four parameters to create the required database table and obtain printer movements:

• index.php

Parameters:

• x_axis
• y_axis
• z_axis
• create_table

To run all functions successfully, I created a class named IoT_3D_printer_tracker. You can download and inspect the index.php file below.

⭐ In the __init__ function, define the required variables to execute the functions:

• token ➡ authorization token of the given Telegram bot
• web_path ➡ Telegram Bot API request server
• conn ➡ MySQL database connection settings
• table ➡ MySQL database table name

⭐ In the send_message function, the application sends the given text to the given bot via the Telegram Bot API by employing the bot's authorization token.

Syntax: https://api.telegram.org/bot<token>/sendMessage?chat_id=<chat_id>&text=<string>

⭐ In the send_photo function, the application sends the given picture to the given bot via the Telegram Bot API by employing the bot's authorization token.

Syntax: https://api.telegram.org/bot<token>/sendPhoto?chat_id=<chat_id>&photo=<link>&caption=<string>

	public function __init__($token, $server, $conn, $table){
		$this->token = $token;
		$this->web_path = $server.$token;
		$this->conn = $conn;
		$this->table = $table;
	}
	
	// Telegram:
	public function send_message($chat_id, $string){
		$new_message = $this->web_path."/sendMessage?chat_id=".$chat_id."&text=".urlencode($string);
		file_get_contents($new_message);
	}
	
	public function send_photo($chat_id, $photo, $caption){
	    $new_photo = $this->web_path."/sendPhoto?chat_id=".$chat_id."&photo=".$photo."&caption=".$caption;
	    file_get_contents($new_photo);
	}

⭐ In the insert_new_data function, append the given printer movement information to the given database table.

⭐ In the get_data_from_database function, retrieve the latest row stored in the given database table.

⭐ In the database_create_table function, create the required database table and insert the default data items as the first row into the recently created table.

    // Database -> Insert Data:
	public function insert_new_data($x_axis, $y_axis, $z_axis, $date){
		$sql = "INSERT INTO `$this->table`(`x_axis`, `y_axis`, `z_axis`, `date`) VALUES ('$x_axis', '$y_axis', '$z_axis', '$date')";
		mysqli_query($this->conn, $sql);
	}

	// Database -> Retrieve Data:
	public function get_data_from_database(){
		$sql = "SELECT * FROM `$this->table` ORDER BY id DESC LIMIT 1";
		$result = mysqli_query($this->conn, $sql);
		if($row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result)){
			return $row;
		}
	}
	
	// Database -> Create Table
	public function database_create_table(){
		// Create a new database table.
		$sql_create = "CREATE TABLE `$this->table`(
						id int AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY NOT NULL,
						x_axis varchar(255) NOT NULL,
					    y_axis varchar(255) NOT NULL,
						z_axis varchar(255) NOT NULL,
						`date` varchar(255) NOT NULL
					   );";
		if(mysqli_query($this->conn, $sql_create)) echo("<br><br>Database Table Created Successfully!");
		// Insert the default data items as the first row into the given database table.
		$sql_insert = "INSERT INTO `$this->table`(`x_axis`, `y_axis`, `z_axis`, `date`) VALUES ('0,0', '0,0', '0,0', 'default')";
		if(mysqli_query($this->conn, $sql_insert)) echo("<br><br>Default Data Items Inserted Successfully!");
	}

⭐ Define the required MySQL database connection settings for Raspberry Pi and the printer_tracker object with its required parameters.

$server = array(
	"name" => "localhost",
	"username" => "root",
	"password" => "bot",
	"database" => "telegram3dprinter",
	"table" => "entries"

);

$conn = mysqli_connect($server["name"], $server["username"], $server["password"], $server["database"]);

// Define the new 'printer_tracker' object:
$printer_tracker = new IoT_3D_printer_tracker();
$bot_token = "<_____________________>"; // e.g., 123456:ABC-DEF1234ghIkl-zyx57W2v1u123ew11
$printer_tracker->__init__($bot_token, "https://api.telegram.org/bot", $conn, $server["table"]); 

⭐ If the 3D printer's lateral and vertical motions (X-axis, Y-axis, and Z-axis) are transferred by the Raspberry Pi Pico via an HTTP POST request:

⭐ Obtain the latest printer motions stored in the given database table.

⭐ Get the current printer motions transferred by the Raspberry Pi Pico.

⭐ Send the current printer motions to the Telegram bot, including the date and time, with the given chat id.

Go to Step 2 to learn how to elicit the chat id.

⭐ Compare the latest (previous) and current printer motions to detect potential malfunctions related to the printer's lateral or vertical motion.

⭐ Then, inform the user of detected malfunctions, if any.

⭐ After every new update, send a schematic describing 3D printer motions to the Telegram bot.

⭐ Finally, append the current printer motions to the given database table.

if(isset($_POST["x_axis"]) && isset($_POST["y_axis"]) && isset($_POST["z_axis"])){
	// Obtain the latest printer motions stored in the given database table.
	$row = $printer_tracker->get_data_from_database();
	$previous_motions = [
		"x_axis" => [intval(explode(",", $row["x_axis"])[0]), intval(explode(",", $row["x_axis"])[1])],
		"y_axis" => [intval(explode(",", $row["y_axis"])[0]), intval(explode(",", $row["y_axis"])[1])],
		"z_axis" => [intval(explode(",", $row["z_axis"])[0]), intval(explode(",", $row["z_axis"])[1])]
	];
	// Obtain the current printer motions transferred by Raspberry Pi Pico.
	$motions = [
		"x_axis" => [intval(explode(",", $_POST["x_axis"])[0]), intval(explode(",", $_POST["x_axis"])[1])],
		"y_axis" => [intval(explode(",", $_POST["y_axis"])[0]), intval(explode(",", $_POST["y_axis"])[1])],
		"z_axis" => [intval(explode(",", $_POST["z_axis"])[0]), intval(explode(",", $_POST["z_axis"])[1])]
	];
	
	// Send the current printer motions to the given Telegram bot. 
	$chat_id = ""; // 1496498083
	$date = date("Y/m/d__h:i:s A");
	$printer_tracker->send_message($chat_id, "📌 Recent Printer Movements:\n\n ⌛ $date\n\n ➡️ X-Axis: ".$_POST["x_axis"]."\n\n ⬇️ Y-Axis: ".$_POST["y_axis"]."\n\n ⬆️ Z-Axis: ".$_POST["z_axis"]);
	// Check for potential malfunctions related to the printer's lateral or vertical motion.
	if($previous_motions["x_axis"][0] == $motions["x_axis"][0] && $previous_motions["x_axis"][1] == $motions["x_axis"][1] && $previous_motions["y_axis"][0] == $motions["y_axis"][0] && $previous_motions["y_axis"][1] == $motions["y_axis"][1] && $previous_motions["z_axis"][0] == $motions["z_axis"][0] && $previous_motions["z_axis"][1] == $motions["z_axis"][1]){
		$printer_tracker->send_message($chat_id, "⛔ 3D Printer is not working!");
	}else{
		if($previous_motions["x_axis"][0] == $motions["x_axis"][0] && $previous_motions["x_axis"][1] == $motions["x_axis"][1]){
			$printer_tracker->send_message($chat_id, "⚠️ X-Axis: Potential Malfunction Detected!");
		}
		if($previous_motions["y_axis"][0] == $motions["y_axis"][0] && $previous_motions["y_axis"][1] == $motions["y_axis"][1]){
			$printer_tracker->send_message($chat_id, "⚠️ Y-Axis: Potential Malfunction Detected!");
		}
		if($previous_motions["z_axis"][0] == $motions["z_axis"][0] && $previous_motions["z_axis"][1] == $motions["z_axis"][1]){
			$printer_tracker->send_message($chat_id, "⚠️ Z-Axis: Potential Malfunction Detected!");
		}
	}
	
	// Send a schematic describing 3D printer motions.
	$printer_tracker->send_photo($chat_id, "https://ars.els-cdn.com/content/image/3-s2.0-B9780128145647000031-f03-03-9780128145647.jpg", "3D Printer Motions");
	
	// Save the current printer motions to the given database table.
	$printer_tracker->insert_new_data($_POST["x_axis"], $_POST["y_axis"], $_POST["z_axis"], $date);
	echo("Data Saved and Transferred to the Telegram Bot Successfully!");
	
}else{
	echo("Waiting for new data...");
}

⭐ If requested, create the required database table (entries), including the default data items in the first row.

if(isset($_GET["create_table"]) && $_GET["create_table"] == "OK") $printer_tracker->database_create_table();

Step 6: Setting Up a LAMP Web Server on Raspberry Pi