Arc-O-Matic, an Arduino-Controlled Art Bot

Arduino Craft & Design Robotics
Arc-O-Matic, an Arduino-Controlled Art Bot

Pete Prodoehl, inspired by this robot, created an art bot — the Arco-O-Matic — with servos hot glued to dowels, and a clothespin holding the Sharpie.

So to make it all work we start by putting an 18″x24″ sheet of paper down with a few pieces of tape, and then insert a Ultra Fine Point Sharpie Marker into the C47 (clothespin) and power it up. It then sweeps to the right, and starts drawing arcs. It’ll do this while gradually moving to the left side of the paper. When it’s done, you can switch the marker and run in again, or shift the paper a bit, or flip it upside down. At this point it’s all up to you.

Part of what I like about these art robots is the way the interaction between the machine and the human takes place. The person sort of acts as a “helper” for much of the process, but none of it could happen without the person. The person loads the paper, loads the pen, and starts it all. The machine does the actual drawing, but couldn’t do any of it without human interaction. It’s a symbiotic relationship, which sounds weird, but that’s how I see it.

13 thoughts on “Arc-O-Matic, an Arduino-Controlled Art Bot

  1. Jim Lind (@JimLindForPope) says:

    I want to see a video of this bot in action.

    1. raster says:

      Hey Jim, you wanted some video, right? :)

      http://rasterweb.net/raster/2013/01/09/art-robots-video/

  2. raster says:

    I’ll get some video done and online… we’ll see how busy this week is. :)

  3. JORDAN ARDUINO says:

    cool

  4. Arc-O-Matic, an Arduino-Controlled Art Bot / Cooking Hacks Blog says:

    […] Make, Source: […]

  5. idan says:

    where is the Instructions to build it?

    1. Pete Prodoehl says:

      idan, there are no step-by-step instructions… it’s a work in progress, but if I get to the point I think people could easily replicate it, I’ll post something.

  6. Aureon Manager says:

    what are the materials you used to create the hinge?

    1. raster says:

      Which hinge? It’s mostly wooden dowels, hot glue, gaffer tape, and servos. I did do some upgrades along the way though:

      http://rasterweb.net/raster/2012/07/12/a-new-elbow/

  7. anass says:

    can you give as the code for arduino?? if it’s possible

  8. Jem nieh says:

    good, can we contact with you for co-op

  9. Drawing machine – Nathier Fernández says:

    […] by Pete Prodoehl’s drawing machine I decided to give it a try and create a  rapid prototyping version of the machine. I used […]

  10. Final project concept / Drawing (bot) machine – Nathier Fernández says:

    […] really wanted to create a drawing machine at some point of PCOMP. Based on Pete Prodoehl’s drawing machine, I made my first approach, which was good because most of the materials were at hand (wood dowels, […]

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My interests include writing, electronics, RPGs, scifi, hackers & hackerspaces, 3D printing, building sets & toys. @johnbaichtal nerdage.net

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