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PlotterBot.

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!ood" #$ea%" and Fast. #$oose two.&

This is an eas+ to build" low cost" and e#tremel+ for-i(in- first robotics ro:ect. ;f +ou ha(e a s are Arduino and a <'= motor shield" +ou could literall+ sca(en-e e(er+thin- else. The catch6 The robot draws relati(el+ slowl+.

Parts/Scavenge List:
Arduino Uno or better Adafruit Motor Shield Two ste er motors !from old co iers" fa# machines" etc.$ %- to &'-(olt ower ada ter !from old electronics$

Materials:
)ood Pa er Pens *ertical surface such as a wall" window" cardboard" or l+wood

Hardware:
,uts" bolts" screws" and nails )ood for s ools" mountin- brac.ets

Tools:
Drill /ot -lue -un Screwdri(er Solderin- iron Pliers 0D rinter !o tional$

Skills Necessary:
Solderin- !for wire connections" Adafruit Motor Shield$ Power drill !for drillin- holes in wood$

Design Files:
All lastic arts o en source and freel+ a(ailable on Thin-i(erse" Thin120023 All software and firmware is o en source from Polar-ra h.co.u. All hardware is o en source from Adafruit" S ar.Fun" and Sand+ ,oble

PlotterBot.com
4uestions or 5omments6
Tweet7 8ma.erbloc. 9-mail7 :a+8ma.erbloc..com

Go to PlotterBot.com to be e-mailed a PDF of all of these materials!

What is a PlotterBot?
A drawing robot!
I have named this robot a PlotterBot. It is an Arduino-based drawing robot that uses two motors, two spools, lots of string, and a pen to draw (really large pi!tures. "he drawing si#e is basi!ally only limited by the amount of string available. $y own robot is a variation on a robot !alled a Polargraph designed by %andy &oble. %andy's robot named his robot a Polargraph be!ause is uses polar !oordinates as it draws.

"his style of drawing robot, one whi!h uses two motors to !ontrol two lines independently to !reate a drawing, is sometimes !alled a (-Plotter be!ause of the ( shape formed by the two !ontrol lines.

How does it work?


Using math!
"he robot reads a series of polar !oordinates from a file on an %) !ard and reels the two motori#ed spools of string in and out to !hange the point where the two strings meet * at the pen. "he robot is programmed to use trigonometry to determine where the pen holder is and where it needs to go. It does this using the length of the two strings and the distan!e between the two points where the strings leave the robot. %in!e the robot +nows the diameter of the two spools, it !an easily !onvert the rotation of ea!h spool into a length of string.

I use the firmware and software from %andy &oble's Polargraph. It's reasonably easy to use, free, and !ompletely open sour!e. )an ,oyer (of marginally!lever.!om offers his own free open sour!e software as well. -owever, the hardware !ould be powered using !ustom software of your own design.

What do "ou use it #or?


Big, awesome drawings!
I use my robot for drawing large poster-si#ed pi!tures. I espe!ially li+e using it for single line drawings using a "raveling %alesman Problem solver. $y daughter en8oys !oloring in the drawings with mar+ers. 5thers have used similar robots for !reating drawings using !hal+, pens, mar+ers or spraypaint to draw on !hal+boards, whiteboards, walls, and even windows. 5ne group used a Polargraph to draw on sheets of !ardboard to !reate a huge bear s!ulpture. "he video of the bear being assembled is pretty spe!ta!ular. 9ou !an wat!h it here http.//shor.tw/7g

What does it $ost to build?


As little as %&'!
9ou !an build a fun!tionally identi!al robot starting from around :71, depending on your 8un+ drawer and mu!h wor+ you're willing to put into it.

A bare-bones parts list would !onsist of an Arduino, an Adafruit $otor %hield, two stepper motors, a power supply, two spools, some string or wire, s!rews and s!rap wood. ;verything e<!ept the Arduino and motor shield !ould be pulled from old printers, fa< ma!hines, or !opiers found on the !urb.

%in!e I sour!ed the parts spe!ifi!ally for this pro8e!t, the total !ost was around :011. All the parts were from the hardware store, Adafruit, and %par+=un. All of the plasti! parts are of my own design and are available on "hingiverse for downloading. I've also des!ribed, in detail, all of my design de!isions in !reating these parts. "here isn't anything spe!ial about the parts I designed e<!ept that I designed them and they suit the way I wanted to build my robot * mostly self-!ontained within a bo<.

(s it di##i$ult to build?
)ot at all!
As long as you !an use basi! tools (drill, s!rewdrivers, wire strippers and !an handle some modest soldering you !an build a PlotterBot of your own4 In fa!t, most of the parts of the robot !ould be swapped out for !ompletely different pie!es and still retain the same e<a!t !ore fun!tionality. *obot Brain. 9ou !ould power a fun!tionally identi!al robot with an Arduino >no (?:71 and an Adafruit $otor %hield (?:01 . I'm using an Arduino $ega !lone with a !ustom shield designed by %andy &oble for his Polargraph. -owever, you !ould upload the same software I use into !ompletely off the shelf parts. I de!ided to upgrade my robot from a prior Arduino with an Adafruit $otor %hield version be!ause the Arduino $ega and !ustom shield allows me to print from an %) !ard using a tou!hs!reen and doesn't re@uire the robot be tethered to a !omputer.

+!ools. 9ou !ould use almost anything to !reate similar spools. 9ou !ould use thread spools and fishing line, homemade spools and thread, spro!+ets and beaded !ords, or toothed belts and gears. I li+e the simpli!ity of the spools and the near-invisibility of the fishing line. "his is the +ind of part you might already have lying around in a 8un+ drawer. Pen holder. Again, this !ould be made out of almost anything as long as you have a hot glue gun. $y prior pen holder was literally a pie!e of !ardboard, with fishing line tied to the !ardboard, and a pen and batteries hot glued to it. ("he dead batteries were 8ust to give it some weight . It loo+ed terrible, but it wor+ed really well4

,ver"thing else. Ahile I use lots of !ustom plasti! parts throughout my robot, there is no reason you !ouldn't ha!+ together motor mounts out of some s!rap wood. "he best part about this robot is how in!redibly !heap and forgiving the basi! design !an be. $y own design uses lots of 7) printed plasti! parts I designed myself. Prototyping all the parts on my $a+erBot ,epli!ator let me iterate @ui!+ly through various designs.

Are there similar robots out there?


Yes, several!
"here are several other well +nown (-Plotter robots. Hektor - http.//he+tor.!h/ - "his is one of the first do!umented line drawing robots and it used really long lines and spraypaint to draw huge murals on walls. Der Krit ler - http.//tin+erlog.!om/0122/13/10/der-+rit#ler/ - "his robot uses a servo to !ontrol a pen lift, toothed belts and spro!+ets to !ontrol the pen, and was designed to draw dire!tly on windows. Polargra!h - http.//www.polargraph.!o.u+/whats-a-polargraph/ - "his robot, designed by %andy &oble uses spro!+ets and beaded !ord (from window blinds4 to !ontrol a pen holder. All of %andy's designs, software, firmware, sour!e !ode, and wor+ are open sour!e and freely available. 5!!asionally he sells everything needed to build a Polargraph as a +it. $y blog has a !onstantly updated list of more than 61 other similar drawing robots here http.//shor.tw/7f

How do "ou draw?


Using Polargra!h #irmware and $ontroller so#tware$y drawing robot uses the Polargraph firmware and software !ontroller by %andy &oble (Polargraph.!o.u+ . "he basi! steps are as follows. 2 >pload Polargraph Arduino s+et!h into ArduinoB 0 Install Polargraph !ontroller softwareB 7 Ad8ust settings by entering the robot's width between spools, paper width, millimeters per rotation of motor, and the width of the pen linesB 6 Import and pla!e/orient an image or ve!torB C ,ender image or ve!tor * so that it is !onverted into a series of polar !oordinates and ma!hine instru!tionsB D %end the instru!tions to the robot over a >%B !able or, if you're using a robot that !an read %) !hips, save the instru!tions to an %) !hipB E Fenter the pen holder at a pre-defined home pointB and G )raw444

How do "ou make the drawings?


.he so#tware renders shaded /!i0eli ed1 images or ve$tors"he Polargraph !ontroller software !an draw shaded pi<eli#ed drawings and ve!tors out of the bo<. -owever, my favorite way to draw with my robot is to !reate traveling salesman problem ve!tor drawings. "he traveling salesman problem (or "%P is the !omputationally diffi!ult problem of finding the most effi!ient path through a number of points where the path !annot interse!t or !ross over itself. 5ne parti!ular open sour!e "%P solver allows for a relatively @ui!+ good enough result for my purposes. "he pro!ess I use for for !reating these "%P drawings is based on a pro!ess published by ;vil $ad %!ientist Haboratories. "he basi! pro!ess is to !onvert an image into a grays!ale image, lighten the image, !onvert the image into a point field, and then save the image as a list of those points, whi!h !an then be fed into the "%P solver. 9ou !an find my full tutorial on the $a+erBot blog here http.//shor.tw/7d

Where $an ( get !arts?


2nline retailers or #rom dum!ster diving-ere's what I bought and where. Ada#ruit (ndustries Arduino >no Adafruit $otor %hield %tepper motors $i!roservo 3-volt power adapter +!ark#un %uper sweet rainbow ribbon !able (I !ould have used any +ind of wire, but these loo+ AA;%5$; +and" )oble 3 Polargra!h 4#or u!graded robot here5 =reeduino Polarshield %) and HF) "ou!hs!reen %hield %hopping list with lin+s here. http.//shor.tw/7e

Wh" $ustom !lasti$ !arts?


6odularit" and maintainabilit"I designed all of the plasti! parts for the robot from s!rat!h to ma+e the entire thing easy to disassemble and maintain with nothing more than a 7mm he< wren!h. $ost of the parts fit together using a dovetail groove system whi!h is then tightened in pla!e with a he< wren!h. %in!e the paper roll is mounted on the pro8e!t bo< and the ele!troni!s don't need to be tethered to a !omputer, the robot !an be mounted semi-permanently onto a wall.

How $ould the robot be im!roved?


Better !ens, balan$ed !en holder, and !en li#tsI am !onstantly tin+ering with ways to improve this robot. Ahile I'm very happy with the overall setup and it wor+s well very reliably, I !ould do a lot more tests to find optimal pens, better weights and balan!es to the pen holder, and ma+e the pen lifts with the servo more reliable.

Where $an ( learn more?


PlotterBot-$om
At PlotterBot.!om you'll be able to sign up to re!eive a !omplete !opy of all of these materials as a P)= along with update on the latest things I've learned about how to build and improve on drawing robots.

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