Your goal in this project is to work with a partner to design a drawing robot. In version 1 the robot will be programmed to draw by simply arcing the servos back and forth. Click here to see video of the drawbot creating art.
In version 2 you and your partner will add a joytick so that a human can control the servos and make a “drawing”.
Your focus here is to work on the building the arm and pencil attachment.
Please avoid drawing onto the floor or tables. If it happens, erase the marks.
Please tape the Arduino and breadboard onto your cardboard base. Do not glue these down.
An important part of this project is to figure out:
-the engineering and mechanics of the robots drawing arm
-the pencil gripper
-the programming and wiring of two standard servos.
Prepare yourself for lots of design-redesign work which is GREAT. Your robot arm will likely fall apart and fail a couple of times.
What you need:
one Arduino
two blue servos – one for the robot’s shoulder and one for the robot’s elbow
wires
cardboard
servo horns and screws
pencil
popsicle sticks
binder clip
Hints:
-the arm of the robot needs to be stiff so to reduce wobble and flex.
-use the tiny screws to attach the servo horns to the servos.
-it’s ok to glue to the servo horns – avoid getting glue into the servo.
-figure out away to keep the paper steady – put on same surface as robot?
-don’t glue the pencil directly – it needs to be moved as the pencil is used – binder clip maybe?
This is my first draft. Don’t assume it’s the best design. IT IS FAR FROM BEST. Use your own creativity to build the arm.
