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Phoenix Interact Labs

Interact Labs

Pollock - Autonomous Drawing Robot

Pollock is a self-contained drawing and exploring robot that was created by Sean Clark as part of his arts work and for use at Phoenix Code Club. It's a completely open project and costs less than £20 to build.

Pollock is based on the Low Cost Arduino compatible Drawing Robot on Instructables. The wheel and caster mounts are the same, but a larger chassis has fittings for the stepper motor boards that often come with low-cost mini stepper motors (removing the need for an additional Darlington chip), front and side holes for mounting additional sensors (such as the ultrasonic sensor currently used) and holes for slightly different battery holders. It currently supports a breadboard-mounted Arduino Nano, but as the project develops we expect to creating mounting holes for an Arduino Uno, Raspberry Pi Zero and Particle Photon PhoBot board.

During the early 2016 Code Club sessions we will be enhancing Pollock further - adding new sensors, writing new programs and experimenting with different drawing materials. We then plan to show off our work at a workshop at Phoenix during the Spark Children's Arts Festival in Leicester in May 2016. We also hope to run a couple of public workshops at Interact Labs for adults and older children interested in the project.

Pictures

Make Your Own

Start by looking at the Low Cost Arduino Compatible Drawing Robot on Instructables. Pollock is based on this and the build instructions are pretty much the same at the moment. The main difference is the chassis. Download and 3D print the following parts:

Then download and 3D print the Pollock chassis and other components:

You can then download the Arduino Code

Now start customising your drawing robot and let us know what you get up to!

Interact Digital Arts Ltd is a digital arts practice focused around the creative work of Sean Clark. We create artworks, undertake artistic commissions and collaborations, curate exhibitions and live events, and run workshops and training sessions. We are based in Leicester where we have a studio and co-manage Interact Labs, a digital art making space at Phoenix Cinema and Art Centre.