Robotics

Ivan Miranda’s Sand Drawing Robot, Take 2

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Drawing messages on the sand is perhaps as old as history itself, but Ivan Miranda has come up with a tracked vehicle to automate this ephemeral art form. In fact, what’s seen in the video below is his second take on a sand drawing robot, boasting a much faster print speed than his 2018 version with the caveat that it prints with less contrast.

The new device features 50 SG90 micro servos spread out across a piece of square tubing, controlled by a total of three Arduino Mega boards. These intermittently extend as they’re pulled forward by a tread system on each side to produce words. The build is so long that he has to actually extend his workbench to get it to fit, and at a weight of 13.5 kilograms (around 30 pounds) without the battery, he created a custom trailer assembly to walk it to the beach.

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Building an Arduino-based bipedal bot

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If you’d like to build a walking biped robot, this 3D-printed design by Technovation looks like a fantastic place to start. Each leg features three servos that actuate it at the hip, knee, and ankle for a total of six degrees of freedom.

Control is handled by an Arduino Uno board that rides on top of the legs, along with a perfboard to connect to the servos directly.

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