4 ms·

Show HN: Chalkbot

64 points by tunavargi 10y ago

rosalinekarr 10y ago
I wonder what this would look like if they could speed up the motors and smooth out the motion with some more taught string. Maybe they could recreate more hand-like motions.
- mangodrunk 10y ago
  If you're in San Francisco, at The Interval, they have a chalkboard drawing robot similar to Chalkbot: http://blog.longnow.org/02014/03/13/interval-chalk-board-robot/ http://blog.longnow.org/02014/03/13/interval-chalk-board-rob... Also, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpQzIaH90f8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpQzIaH90f8 These projects are really cool.
  - GoodOldNe 10y ago
    There is also a very cool chalk drawing robot installed at the SF MOMA.
kator 10y ago
I built a dual axis laser pointer setup to play with my cat but she looks at the servo's too often because they're so noisy. I was wondering if I could use memory wire to control the laser pointer since it would be quieter. Now I'm wondering if these stepper motors might be a better alternative, maybe a third one against some sort of a spring loaded harness. Either way very cool, would be interesting to see if a third motor might have helped rather than relying on gravity and good behavior of the chalk pen.
chris_st 10y ago
That's great! Thanks for detailing what went wrong, as well as what went right. I've wanted to do a drawbot (paper and pen) for a while, and thought these pulleys[1] and belts[2] might be good. 1: https://www.adafruit.com/products/1251 https://www.adafruit.com/products/1251 2: https://www.adafruit.com/products/1184 https://www.adafruit.com/products/1184
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
Qworg 10y ago
And here I thought it was the Nike Chalkbot: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HmW-eGCrSxs http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HmW-eGCrSxs Still cool though!
- colindean 10y ago
  Nike Chalkbot was a project by Pittsburgh-based Deeplocal: http://www.deeplocal.com/projects/chalkbot.html http://www.deeplocal.com/projects/chalkbot.html
  - Qworg 10y ago
    Definitely! It was before my time there - but Deeplocal is great.
  - goodmachine 10y ago
    Historical note on the evolution of drawbots: Nike's Chalkbot was a direct and uncredited steal of IAA's Graffiti Writer robot project/ Streetwriter truck: from political dissent to branded drivel in one smooth move. The OP's Chalkbot however announces itself as being inspired by Jurg Lehni's HEKTOR (2002). Scholars (HT @Sandy Noble of Polargraph) will note HEKTOR's twin-cord design from 2.30m in this deeply awesome MIT MediaLab/ SIGGRAPH video from 1988. Made of Lego! Programmed in LOGO! Presume there are antecedents (pendulographs, anyone?) for this too. AFAICS, Lehni does not acknowledge the MIT crew anywhere... tsk tsk. ACM SIGGRAPH 1988 Issue 40 - Lego/Logo https://open-video.org/details.php?videoid=8213 https://open-video.org/details.php?videoid=8213 Graffitiwriter vs Nike Chalkbot https://vimeo.com/6075609 https://vimeo.com/6075609 http://blog.nearfuturelaboratory.com/2009/07/07/chalkbot-versus-graffitiwriter/ http://blog.nearfuturelaboratory.com/2009/07/07/chalkbot-ver... Polargraph http://polargraph.co.uk http://polargraph.co.uk Nice resource for drawing machines here: https://drawingmachines.org/index.php https://drawingmachines.org/index.php
StavrosK 10y ago
Very nice! I made a similar ones with LEGO Mindstorms in three dimensions: https://youtube.com/watch?v=blYpo2qB_LI https://youtube.com/watch?v=blYpo2qB_LI
em_ 10y ago
I am doing similar drawings with Sandy Noble's Polargraph (http://www.polargraph.co.uk http://www.polargraph.co.uk). How do you keep the liquid chalk flowing? Common liquid chalk pens need pumping over time. art+com created a massive chalkbot at Jelling Museum in Denkmark: https://artcom.de/en/project/experience-centre-royal-jelling-2/ https://artcom.de/en/project/experience-centre-royal-jelling...

64 points by tunavargi 10y ago

I wonder what this would look like if they could speed up the motors and smooth out the motion with some more taught string. Maybe they could recreate more hand-like motions.

mangodrunk 10y ago
If you're in San Francisco, at The Interval, they have a chalkboard drawing robot similar to Chalkbot: http://blog.longnow.org/02014/03/13/interval-chalk-board-robot/ http://blog.longnow.org/02014/03/13/interval-chalk-board-rob... Also, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpQzIaH90f8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpQzIaH90f8 These projects are really cool.
- GoodOldNe 10y ago
  There is also a very cool chalk drawing robot installed at the SF MOMA.

kator 10y ago

I built a dual axis laser pointer setup to play with my cat but she looks at the servo's too often because they're so noisy. I was wondering if I could use memory wire to control the laser pointer since it would be quieter. Now I'm wondering if these stepper motors might be a better alternative, maybe a third one against some sort of a spring loaded harness. Either way very cool, would be interesting to see if a third motor might have helped rather than relying on gravity and good behavior of the chalk pen.

chris_st 10y ago

That's great! Thanks for detailing what went wrong, as well as what went right. I've wanted to do a drawbot (paper and pen) for a while, and thought these pulleys[1] and belts[2] might be good. 1: https://www.adafruit.com/products/1251 https://www.adafruit.com/products/1251 2: https://www.adafruit.com/products/1184 https://www.adafruit.com/products/1184

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

Qworg 10y ago

And here I thought it was the Nike Chalkbot: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HmW-eGCrSxs http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=HmW-eGCrSxs Still cool though!

colindean 10y ago
Nike Chalkbot was a project by Pittsburgh-based Deeplocal: http://www.deeplocal.com/projects/chalkbot.html http://www.deeplocal.com/projects/chalkbot.html
- Qworg 10y ago
  Definitely! It was before my time there - but Deeplocal is great.
- goodmachine 10y ago
  Historical note on the evolution of drawbots: Nike's Chalkbot was a direct and uncredited steal of IAA's Graffiti Writer robot project/ Streetwriter truck: from political dissent to branded drivel in one smooth move. The OP's Chalkbot however announces itself as being inspired by Jurg Lehni's HEKTOR (2002). Scholars (HT @Sandy Noble of Polargraph) will note HEKTOR's twin-cord design from 2.30m in this deeply awesome MIT MediaLab/ SIGGRAPH video from 1988. Made of Lego! Programmed in LOGO! Presume there are antecedents (pendulographs, anyone?) for this too. AFAICS, Lehni does not acknowledge the MIT crew anywhere... tsk tsk. ACM SIGGRAPH 1988 Issue 40 - Lego/Logo https://open-video.org/details.php?videoid=8213 https://open-video.org/details.php?videoid=8213 Graffitiwriter vs Nike Chalkbot https://vimeo.com/6075609 https://vimeo.com/6075609 http://blog.nearfuturelaboratory.com/2009/07/07/chalkbot-versus-graffitiwriter/ http://blog.nearfuturelaboratory.com/2009/07/07/chalkbot-ver... Polargraph http://polargraph.co.uk http://polargraph.co.uk Nice resource for drawing machines here: https://drawingmachines.org/index.php https://drawingmachines.org/index.php

StavrosK 10y ago

Very nice! I made a similar ones with LEGO Mindstorms in three dimensions: https://youtube.com/watch?v=blYpo2qB_LI https://youtube.com/watch?v=blYpo2qB_LI

em_ 10y ago

I am doing similar drawings with Sandy Noble's Polargraph (http://www.polargraph.co.uk http://www.polargraph.co.uk). How do you keep the liquid chalk flowing? Common liquid chalk pens need pumping over time. art+com created a massive chalkbot at Jelling Museum in Denkmark: https://artcom.de/en/project/experience-centre-royal-jelling-2/ https://artcom.de/en/project/experience-centre-royal-jelling...