Since you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably come across robotic art devices that hang a pen from two strings and create art by manipulating their lengths. If you’re anything like me, you though it was pretty neat, but didn’t know where to start to make your own. Well now you do, with this “Makelangelo 2.5” polar plotter—AKA polargraph—kit.
The device in question uses software to convert the picture you’d like plotted into GCODE, the same language used by CNC machines like mills, 3D printers, and this machine. The robot’s two steppers then manipulate the strings to place the pen where it’s needed, and after repeating this thousands of times, a picture takes shape from the lines drawn on a vertical piece of paper.
It’s a neat device, available for around $200 plus shipping. Of note, it doesn’t include a few items, including a power supply, an Arduino Uno (which you may, of course have), and a wood board to put it on since that “doesn’t fit in the mail.”
