Fastbot News and Updates

• Origins

  A new controller board, three years in the making

  Fastbot was started around three years before the most recent project update, built around the idea of a more capable controller board for 3D printers, running Debian or Android on an ARM Cortex-A8 processor.

• Difficulties

  Running into business trouble

  The team behind Fastbot has acknowledged operating the company was difficult, citing a lack of business experience rather than a technical shortfall in the board itself.

• Outcome

  BBP project could not continue

  The BBP project ultimately failed and did not continue. The team described the decision as a hard one, and thanked backers for their support during the effort.

• Open Source

  Software and hardware shared on GitHub

  Following the project's end, Fastbot's software and hardware information were made available on GitHub, so backers and other developers could continue to use or build on the work.

The Fastbot project's journey from ambitious hardware startup to open-source archive reflects a story familiar to many grassroots engineering efforts. What began as a dream to build a more capable, Linux-powered controller board for 3D printers eventually encountered the harsh realities of operating a small hardware company. Rather than let the work disappear entirely, the team made the difficult decision to release their software and design materials to the community under open licensing. This transition allowed the core innovations—the dual-processor architecture, the rich interface capabilities, and the flexible stepper driver support—to live on as resources for makers, hobbyists, and developers who continue building and experimenting with 3D printing technology.