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Sprayprinter – A graffiti robot startup
- utexaspunk 8y agoI would imagine it's stepper motors and rotary encoders turning the pulleys, with perhaps some solenoids or servos to push the tops of the cans.
- ninju 8y agoAlong with some kind of Z-axis calibration to validate height (GPS or barometer based) since drift due to slippage or weight changes is quite possible
- SiftedTech 8y agoThanks both!
- haihaibye 8y agoOr markers on the wires.
- sparrish 8y agoLooks like it crawls up and down wires
- emilfihlman 8y agoRaster lines, nothing special.
- igor47 8y agoDo you remember when you became bitter and jaded?
- emilfihlman 8y agoDo you remember that titles on HN can change?
- crossman 8y agoWhen I clicked this the title was asking how this was working. I think that's what this user was answering
- SiftedTech 8y agoHi yes this is what I was asking. I don't know why the title has changed!
- dang 8y agoModerators change titles when they break the site guidelines. The relevant guideline is "Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html The submitted title was "Wall-climber robot spraypaints big murals, any idea how its hardware works?", which is actually more baity than the original (wrong direction!). It's also the sort of thing that will strike HN readers as transparently promotional, prompting them to flag a submission.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- nerpderp82 8y agoThis is a wire robot but operating in a plane (or curved plane on the side of the water tower). https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-spatial-wire-robot-a-CAD-Draft-of-WiRo-b-Geometry-and-kinematics_fig1_200556782 https://www.researchgate.net/figure/A-spatial-wire-robot-a-C... I would use a single pivot at the top and two wheels in contact with the plane, the path of the robot would then be an arc around that pivot point. The rest of the mechanism is analogous to an ink-jet printer. The other option would be to construct a large https://reprap.org/wiki/CoreXY https://reprap.org/wiki/CoreXY like mechanism, forming a large etch-a-sketch. I have also seen devices that used venturi suction to drive on vertical surfaces. Or suction cups mounted on pivoting arms that could walk across the surface.
- SiftedTech 8y agoThank you for these insights.
- mark-r 8y agoIt's just an ink jet printer, scaled really large. The print head moves via motors and pulleys in steps along two dimensions. Unless there are patents that specifically apply I think just about anybody could do it. Their dedication to art vs. advertising seems doomed to failure once somebody replicates the device.
- lostlogin 8y agoWhat’s the message here? Give up before you’ve tried?
- coldtea 8y ago>It's just an ink jet printer, scaled really large. Yeah, just like Dropbox is basically an FTP account, mounted locally with curlftpfs, and then SVN or CVS on the mounted filesystem. Not to mention that from Windows or Mac, this FTP account could be accessed through built-in software.
- mark-r 8y agoBefore the post title was changed it contained a question, "any idea how its hardware works?" That's where my comment was directed.
- SiftedTech 8y agoI haven't changed my question - don't know why it's been edited or how?
- yorwba 8y agoThe guidelines admonish us to "...please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize." https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- hinkley 8y agoYou're right about the competition, but I found their 'dedication' to be lukewarm. Once someone realizes that there's a company turning away customers with deep pockets, someone will show up and happily take that work. Then if they're taking the high road they have to convince artists that they have the moral high ground and therefore if a city or company wants a large mural, they'll be working with the Spraypainter team. But the fact that they've done advertising anyway... that doesn't project the romantic image of the underdog with a moral compass that seems popular with artists. And as an artist, do you really want to use the exact same medium that every auto dealer group in town is using to advertise? Yuck. That's not a problem yet, because there's only one company doing those murals and they are only taking a few advertising projects. But once the copycats show up they'll have to find a way to differentiate their look or get sidelined.
- michaelbuckbee 8y agoHave you seen Maslow? An open source large format CNC machines? It may have some ideas that you could apply: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y60q6U7NjTQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y60q6U7NjTQ
- joshvm 8y agoYou can see the cabling in the video on the official site: https://www.sprayprinter.com/ https://www.sprayprinter.com/
- smoyer 8y agoIf you're into robots watch one of the FirstInspires events on Twitch. Sitting in the stands at the Greater Pittsburgh Regional ATM ... It's pretty amazing what high school students can build!
- SiftedTech 8y agoIs this the right link? https://www.twitch.tv/firstinspires/events?filter=past https://www.twitch.tv/firstinspires/events?filter=past
- smoyer 8y agoAnd firstinspires1 and firstinspires11 ... we're at the GPR which is firstinspire1
- pietroglyph 8y agoI don’t think that will get you a competition livestream. Most competitions this week haven’t started yet (they’re usually ~Fri-Sun). The game changes every year, but here’s a sample match from last year: https://youtu.be/jYjztOCT79M https://youtu.be/jYjztOCT79M You might also be able to find something at a week 4 event today or tomorrow here: https://www.thebluealliance.com/#events https://www.thebluealliance.com/#events The FIRST Robotics Competition is really cool (it turned 30 yesterday!), and if you like the look of it you should consider checking out or even mentoring a nearby team. They exist in many US high schools, and in some other countries as well.
- smoyer 8y agoIt will get you a live stream of the practices I our region ...equals are all day Friday and Saturday morning and the finals are Saturday afternoon (about half an hour from now).
- perch56 8y agoInteresting as I just watched last night on Netflix, “Love, Death & Robots Episode 14: Zima Blue” which is a story very similar to the robot from the article.
- shaunxcode 8y agoThe technical aspect is cool for sure but I think the more important point is the anti-advert/commercial art stance being taken. It is extremely refreshing and inspiring.
- hinkley 8y agoExcept they took the Nissan commission. The aren't anti-commercial, they're just commercial averse. Like Google is evil averse. If you're neutral you get to do bad things without being bad. A lot of people want to be good as long as they don't have to sacrifice anything for it. Really, as long as they don't see themselves as actively engaging in the other direction, they sleep really well at night. They aren't good, they're just normal, but it's enough to maintain the illusion of their self image as a good person. If I'm not an asshole then I must be a good person. Which I think is why we have so much trouble changing our peers. The moment we bring something up we've already challenged their identity. We've issued an existential threat. We might as well be brandishing a knife. From the other side, when I give up things for philosophical reasons, some people characterize this as self-destructive behavior. A sign of naivete. Of immaturity. I only know two things. They probably sleep better than I do, and I'll sleep even worse if I don't do these things. I begin to wonder if it's the case that the only people who are good people will tell you that they aren't. Kind of depressing if true. Think of your favorite person and imagine that you like them better than they like themselves. Harsh.
- SiftedTech 8y agoBeing averse is still a good start though? - I was just wondering how long it would take for someone to replicate the technique and sell out...
- hinkley 8y agoIn any other industry. Maybe I'm getting sucked in by stereotypes but it seems like the art community is much more concerned with 'selling out' than most. On the other hand, a plot device from a scifi book (Tad Williams I think?) has stuck me with the idea of creating slowly evolving graphics. If I were an artist I might get pretty excited about a robot who can paint and repaint a mural for me as many times as I want. Being able to change with the seasons or local events might entice me, regardless of how many ads have done the same thing.
- Vaskerville 8y agoThis seems like a good moment to remind about Jürg Lehni & Uli Franke's Hektor (2002): http://juerglehni.com/works/hektor http://juerglehni.com/works/hektor.
- sf_rob 8y agoThis one is so much cooler. Linear controlling is the obvious solution, but this does the proper approach angles which is awesome.
- SiftedTech 8y agooooooh!
- sweetheart 8y agoI can’t help but feel that in some ways, an “artistic” ad is even worse than one that doesn’t try to appeal so strongly to aestheticism for the sake of beauty. It’s somehow more deceptive and insidious to me. I don’t think the founders adhere to much of an ethical code if they are commissioned for any ads.
- pedro1976 8y agoSome time ago I was brain storming about something similar but with a different tech stack to be able to plot from the distance. I wanted to mount a spray can on a quad-copter and keep the power supply external initially. The ultimate goal was to mark an area of wall using a separate device (mobile phone maybe) and the quad-copter would then fly there and do its work.
- sleepybrett 8y agoCheck out GRL's old `l.a.s.e.r. tag` project. Projector based but used machine vision to draw on top of a laser pointer mark. https://github.com/LeonFedotov/L.A.S.E.R.-TAG-GRL https://github.com/LeonFedotov/L.A.S.E.R.-TAG-GRL
- haihaibye 8y agoCool. Now please cover lots of ugly concrete walls with L-System fractals!
- bryanrasmussen 8y agoconsider Grafitti Markup Language http://www.graffitimarkuplanguage.com/ http://www.graffitimarkuplanguage.com/
- sleepybrett 8y agothere are several versions of this basic robotic design available for purchase both diyish and fully fledged products (neither one I'm about to list is spray paint based though, but in the case of the diy version, it could be hacked in with a redesign of the 'shuttle') Sandy Noble's Polargraph (diy and very hackable) : http://www.polargraph.co.uk/ http://www.polargraph.co.uk/ the Scribit (buttoned up product with multiple pen support) : https://scribit.design/ https://scribit.design/ This looks like the exact same system but because of the pendulum effect when you "turn a corner" these guys wen't with just running it up and down in vertical lines and only moving a bit to the side when the line is done.
- MayeulC 8y agoI thought a lot about a similar concept, using drones (maybe even swarms). Has this ever been attempted? I guess the energy and posioning constraints would be much tighter, but it would make for a fun project. One advantage I see to using strings and wheels is that there is no strict requirement for spray painting, as it can be done with regular rolls. I was a bit disappointed to see that it used spray painting here as well (and quite a bit of sprays bottles per painting).
- tokyodude 8y agoThe definition of graffiti pretty much includes property destruction. I don't get why that's ok with so much of Western culture. I think street art is great and with permission have zero issues but going around trashing other people's property seems like a net negative to society as a whole. It sets a precedent. If you can trash my stuff then it should be okay for me to trash yours. That seems like a bad direction to me.
- laughinghan 8y agoIs it your understanding that non-Western cultures would be more or less okay with graffiti? Seems like everyone else is if anything less absolutist about private property rights. I'm sorry you think that what I did to your stuff trashed it, but I think I enhanced it/everyone else thinks I enhanced/I didn't think you cared? It's on your outside wall, everyone else in the world has to stare at it/pass by it too, whereas from inside you can't even see it. Sure, strictly speaking, legally no one has any right to do anything to it but you. But like, if you're asking why societally, culturally, it's socially acceptable to do stuff to that wall, I don't understand why that's hard to understand? No harm no foul; like, if I set fire to your building, no one thinks that's harmless or acceptable. But if I paint something on your ugly outside wall, why would anyone be up in arms about that on your behalf?
- tokyodude 8y agothen maybe you should grafitti the Sistine Chapel. You claim you're making it prettier but why is that up to you? If want to paint it make a proposal and ask for permission. Besides beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 95% of the graffiti I see is just someone's name/callsign/initials. It's not remotely pretty. It's just blatent selfish self promotion
- laughinghan 8y ago> then maybe you should grafitti the Sistine Chapel. You claim you're making it prettier but why is that up to you? Of course it's not up to me? You asked how it could be "ok with so much of Western culture". If we collectively think it's prettier, like those Banksy pieces that were going to be removed but were instead made permanent due to public outcry, then we're okay with it. If we collectively think it's dumb/ugly/meaningless, like tagging (which is what it's called when people just write their name or initials or gang sign or sports team is apparently really common, too), then no one minds if we remove it, and there's certainly not much respect for it. If someone destroyed priceless cultural heritage like the Sistine Chapel by spray-painting over it, do you really believe that would be "ok with much of Western culture"?
- fenwick67 8y agoGraffiti !== Spraypaint
- duado 8y agoThese guys aren’t anti-advertising as much as they are protecting their bohemian “too cool for capitalism” brand.