science

Prusa Research

Prusa Research is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Prusa Research rather than just read about it. In short: Prusa Research a.s., commonly referred to as Prusa, is a Czech company that produces 3D printers, and was the world's second largest 3D printer manufacturer in 2020. It was founded in 2012 by Josef Průša, a developer in the RepRap project which has a strong emphasis on open-source hardware.

Key takeaways

Prusa Research belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Prusa Research to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Prusa Research from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Prusa Research a.s., commonly referred to as Prusa, is a Czech company that produces 3D printers, and was the world's second largest 3D printer manufacturer in 2020. It was founded in 2012 by Josef Průša, a developer in the RepRap project which has a strong emphasis on open-source hardware. In the past, all printers produced by the company were open source – their design plans were fully available online and anyone could use them, for example to improve an existing printer. Some examples are the Prusa i3, Prusa Mini and Prusa XL. As of 2023, the company started partially abandoning this open-source concept due to competition from others (including their open-source software being used by competitor Bambu Lab), and in 2024 launched their second CoreXY printer Prusa Core One which is no longer fully open-source.

Hardware

Prusa Research currently as of 2025 offers the FDM printers Prusa MK4S, Prusa XL, Prusa MINI+, and Prusa CORE One. The MK4S and MINI+ use a traditional cartesian design; the CORE One and the XL uses CoreXY kinematics. In addition to these, Prusa Research also offers the Prusa SL1S SLA printer. With Trilab, the company is further developing the Prusa PRO product line. This includes the Prusa Pro HT90, Prusa Pro SLX, and Prusa Pro Medical One. Prusa also offers multi colour addons such as the MMU3 and INDX. These can be purchased separately for the printer. The company offers the option to purchase many of their printers in kit form for a reduction in price, shipping just the parts and tools necessary to build the printer. It also offers upgrades for almost all of its printers - for example, you can upgrade the Prusa i3 MK3S+ to the Prusa MK4. Many of the structural components of Prusa 3D printers are 3D printed, facilitating user modification and repair. Prusa Research maintains a large number of their 3D printers to mass produce parts while simultaneously testing and developing new hardware.

Original Prusa Trademark Due to the open source nature of products based on the Prusa designs, Prusa trademarked the name Original Prusa to differentiate from Prusa Research's open source products. Current products not denoted with the Original Prusa name are not completely open source.

Software Prusa Research also develops its own software.

PrusaSlicer Prusa Research software products includes the open-source PrusaSlicer (GNU Affero General Public License v3.0), based on Alessandro Ranellucci's Slic3r, a well-known 3D model preparation program that is no longer being updated with new features and settings. In PrusaSlicer, profiles can be created for any 3D printer on the market, meaning that one does not need to own a Prusa printer to use the program.

Prusa EasyPrint Prusa EasyPrint is a lightweight web-based tool for online slicing 3D models. It processes models in the cloud using the PrusaSlicer, making 3D printing easily accessible from any device. It offers basic model manipulation and print settings, specifically designed for ease of use by beginners and professionals.

Prusa Connect Prusa launched Prusa Connect. An online management system for printers and print farms. It allows to control the machine and send printjobs and files remotely. The predecessor of PrusaConnect is PrusaLink which was a LAN only based system. As of 2025 you can connect the Prusa Core One, MK4 and higher, Prusa MINI, Prusa XL, Prusa HT90, Prusa CW1S and with the help of a Raspberry Pi even the older models such as the MK2 and derivatives and the MK3 lineup. The Prusa Connect also works in collaboration with the app.

Prusa App Along with the introduction of the Prusa MK4S series, Prusa also released its native mobile app for monitoring and basic control of its PrusaConnect connected printers. It is also used for initial printer setup and belt maintenance. The app also features Printables integration and the ability to print models directly from a mobile phone with the newly introduced EasyPrint feature.

Printables Printables.com is an online library of 3D models developed by Prusa, where users can share their models, alterations to other models, called Remixes, and publish their printed results under the author's original model. It thus competes directly with platforms such as MakerWorld from Bambu Lab or Thingiverse. The EasyPrint feature is now available for Prusa printers, enabling cloud slicing for printing from mobile devices or less powerful computers.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Prusa Research

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Prusa Research claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Prusa Research before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Prusa Research ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Prusa Research

In research: Prusa Research appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Prusa Research in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Prusa Research is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 3D printer companies, Companies established in 2012, Companies of the Czech Republic, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Prusa Research outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Prusa Research in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Prusa Research means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Prusa Research out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Prusa Research in simple terms?

Why does Prusa Research matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Prusa Research?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Prusa Research.