An interactive art installation piece requiring guest interaction.
The large 'follower' arm automatically picks up blocks from a conveyor belt.
Guests control the small 'lead' arm; the follower arm attempts to mirror its position.
Guests instruct the follower arm where to place blocks, and these positions are remembered.
Hitting 'replay' clears the board; the robot then attempts to recreate the guest-defined pattern using new blocks.
After a replay cycle, guests can add more blocks, iterating on the design with the robot.
Construction Details
Primarily constructed from 3D printed parts, supplemented with standard 3D printer components.
Base robot arm design sourced from ftobler on Thingiverse and enhanced using the "community robot arm" modifications by 20sffactory (utilizing stepper motors and belts).
Control hardware: Arduino Mega with a RAMPS 1.4 shield and TMC2208 stepper drivers for quiet operation.
Many custom-designed parts were created for the desired aesthetics and functionality (e.g., large arm base, small arm components, grippers, conveyor belt). STLs available upon request.
Control code written specifically for this project, focusing on reliability and repeatability using the MobaTools Arduino library for stepper control.
