Building a Robot Etch A Sketch
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 เม.ย. 2024
- Support future videos : www.buymeacoffee.com/micahtilton
Any donation of 15$ or more, I will send you a personalized video of the etch a sketch drawing an image of your choice :) Keep in mind that the image you chose should be appropriate and fairly simple. Complex images don't work too well.
Website : micahtilton.github.io
"i dont have the skills to draw but i do have the skills to build a robot to do it" lol
Im a terrible artist lol
@@micah_tilton but that robots a good artist
Yes, that's the essence of an engineer. You cannot fly, but you can build an airplane.
This is why I feel sad when people criticise AI art. A human still has to give instructions to express their idea.
@@skellious still not art nomatter how big the csv your prompt is
Delighted that you document those frustrating mistakes we ALL make with these kinds of projects
It was a rough process getting this to work, I don’t even show any of the programming frustrations
I only hope you can reuse the waste 3d prints because it shouldn’t need 7 attempts just to design a knob. Over the year mistakes like this will produce lots of unnecessary waste, to help you reuse the waste try to get silicone mold made of something you like. Then start by putting the waste 3d into the mold and heat the mood to the material melting temp. And keep adding 3d prints to the mold as the plastic keeps melting and you’ll have a beautiful recycled sculpture of whatever the mold was.
@@atharvashetty6173He probably has a means of recycling or reusing the parts. Also, taking 7 attempts to design a knobs is completely valid especially if you're a perfectionist. Depends what you need it for, but still. Errors are just part of the design process.
Ok, now you HAVE to recreate the scene from Toy Story 2 where Etch draws the map to Al's Toy Barn..... That would be AWESOME!
Or the guy with a chicken suit holding Woody
Or just dickbutt 😂
Cool project! Some notes from a robotics engineer:
1. You might be able to improve it if you add in some backlash compensation. When you change direction while turning a knob, the first couple degrees of motion in the new direction don't actually move the cursor. You could measure this by seeing how many steps you could rotate a knob back and forth without the cursor moving. The backlash amount in the two directions might be different. So whenever you change directions, you first need to rotate the knob by the backlash amount before continuing the path.
2. It seems like you could maybe double the resolution. it looks like the rows are a little too spaced apart to make a fully filled-in image.
3. The pathfinding for traveling back through an already drawn area is a cool idea (very computer scientist-y) but the image might be better if you only do travel along the border pixels. or, as another commenter suggested, with the "grain" if you're going through a filled region.
less technical suggestions:
as other people said, moving to the start position then shaking the etch a sketch to get rid of the initial line
maybe another pattern to fill the regions? like crosshatching would be cool
Lookin forward to see what you do next :^)
Also, see that little phillips head screw thing on the stepper motor controller? you can use that to turn down the voltage which might help with the heat buildup. too low and they will stop working though. worth a try at least
You basically summed up the problems that I ran into. I didn't think talk much about them (I probably should have). I took backlash into consideration, ive never heard of that term before but I thought of it as a deadzone and I just stepped an extra 10 steps if the stepper changed direction.
I could probably double the resolution but it would take 4x as long and may not produce a 4x better image but definitely a good idea to try.
I agree, the path finding could be a lot smarter but it may take a lot longer to process a more efficient or "better looking" path.
Thank you for the info and the support, I appreciate it!
@@micah_tiltonGiven how quickly this makes the images, having it take 4 times as long is absolutely nothing compared to how long your 3d printer took to make the parts, even if you discount the failures.
By the way, documenting the failures shows you're just the same as us viewers :)
This is great! Also, those "backtrack" lines can probably be removed if you reverse the drawing routine so that it draws the "backtracking" *first*. (If you still want to start in the top-left corner after that, either pathfind to the new starting point (traversing over black sections) first, or reverse recursions individually, or shake the device after initial traversal.) Doing this would result in the image portion essentially re-drawing over the backtrack lines, instead of backtracking lines drawing over the image portion.
@@_LordInateur I didn't think of drawing the backtracking first! neat idea
Small suggestion to avoid reddit thieves: Put your watermark on a visible place in your timelapses or "interesting parts", like NileRed and Steve Mould do, great project, looks like it was a lot of fun
THIS!!
better yet print it on the object itself so it's visible but unobtrusive and can't be removed
Very cool!
If you add a pause and shake the Etch a Sketch between after it gets from the start position to the first black pixels block you could get rid of that initial line, but at the same time it tells a bit how the thing works.
Good idea! Thanks!
New shaking robot incoming?
This is criminal that you dont have more views and subs, you deserve to be more recognized in the maker community. Earned my sub
thank you! I appreciate it
ik like people who actually try get nothing but people who literally just bob their head get millions
I would have lost my mind if I saw this when I was a kid. Always wanted to do this, never put in the time. Thank you for bringing this to life!
LOVE. Posting it on the blog tomorrow. Also, you're WAY past 1000 subs now!!!!
Thank you!
There's a few tricks you can do to get cleaner results (not that this is in any way bad!) such as choosing paths to move from one area of the image to another, such that those transversal paths aren't noticeable (even when taken repeatedly). Eg. rather than starting in the top left corner, you start there, relocate to a spot inside the draw area, clear the screen, and then draw; or coming up/down from the center. Or you can repeatedly pass over a region, adjusting the pointer by only a fraction of its draw width, in order to produce a full-black area, as you push the metallic dust in one direction (rather than smearing some to both sides); look up a tutorial on how to completely clear the screen.
I once did a picture of a cityscape along a sloped street, so one of my transversal lines was the edge of the street. Even though it was sloped, I just had to be consistent about how I twisted the knobs. Then all the buildings were rectangular, which made those easy. From there it was just a matter of choosing how to texture each building (vertical stripes, horizontal, windows, etc)
two things you could do to improve this:
1: make the program minimize the number of "against the grain" moves while making moves. For example, this would be diagonal lines for the dog.
to do this, you would need to first choose a grain that best suits the image (up, down, diagonal left to right, diagonal right to left) then have it minimize all travel movements that are not this grain.
2: start the etch A sketch in it's starting position to eliminate the line from the edge. You would probably need a clear function for the robot, but a tilting plate should do the trick...
Good ideas! I think implementing #1 would help give the image a cleaner look
I was thinking you could just program the backtrack to go around the edge of the black area, so the line produced adds to the definition of the shape rather than cutting awkwardly across the middle.
I was thinking program the backtrack step to follow the edge of the shaded area, so it forms a nice edge rather than cutting across and making a weird diagonal.
Wow, that’s pretty cool, I love seeing the picture come to life slowly as the algorithm figures out how to draw it, it isn’t in order but that’s what makes it fun to watch
Wow, really neat project. Watching that thing go is really cool
Congrats on 1k subs 🎉 also great project Ive always wanted to do this but ive never thought i would actually get to see it work!
Thank you!
just keep up you are amazing! been working in such ABSTRACT projects and the creativity is the only thing that will take you up.
Congrats on reaching 1000 Subs!
A bit of a silly suggestion, but I think using the Etch-A-Sketch robot as a Linux terminal would be really neat!
cool video dude! you deserve way more subs than 1000
Thanks bro!
I was thinking of this concept the other night. Little did i know someone was hard at work building it already! The drawing method reminds me of oscilloscope art!
One of the coolest things I have ever seen.
I've never seen such an incredible subversion in the final 2-3 frames of a TH-cam video. I am in awe, my lad.
Congrats on 1k subs! And now almost 3k after this awesome project. Love the vid, definitely got my sub
This is so cool. Lots of cool bits at play here.
This is awesome. Way above my skill!
I think the algorithm has picked you up buddy! I actually didnt recognize you for a while, and then remembered seeing your vertasium submission
Amazing work. I was thinking of doing this with an old 3d printer board and use cura for the software. Great work
I came from the TH-cam recommended and I loved the video I'm looking forward to seeing more!
This video alone is worth a subscribe. You got some mad skills friend.
This is very clever! I'll be sure to check out some of your other videos!
I recommend watching the Minecraft led display if you liked this video
@@micah_tilton yeah, alright, I'll go ahead and do that
Great work man!! I'm so impressed!
now you have a new sub from india , loved this project.
Very underrated for a video and a channel with such quality...
Steppers normally run hot, but you should be able to touch them if its burning you hand you should adjust the current on the driver. Awesome project.
Great video! I would love to see a tutorial or project breakdown on the software here. It could also be cool to have pullys instead of direct drive so you can mount the steppers away from the etch a sketch
I had this idea earlier however I wanted to be able to easily mount and unmount the motors. glad you enjoyed!
Should pay to drive the algorithm. This should surely have a million views!
Awesome, now you are at 4k. Looking forward to your 1mil subs vid.This is some quality, you can go all the way if you want.
Congrats on 1k subs!
Thank you!
Very cute dog. It's like the Rube Goldberg machine of printers or plotters or video screens. An excessively complicated way to achieve the same result. Especially the part where you can't lift the line off the drawing. This makes it uber complicated. But it is awesomely cool 👍
Very COoL. You R the "Etch A Sketch Whisperer". I would take on the mechanical challenge without thinking twice (so to speak). But the algorithms that drive that stylus would cause my brain to explode. Say what you will, to me this is pure A.A.T. (Advanced Alien Technology). And I solute you my friend! 🖖
This is so amazing
This is extremely impressive. Happy to sub to your awesome channel.
Great video congrats on the 1000 subs
ohh etch a sketch my ole friend, the original corexy :'D
since in a core XY motion system a combination of both motors is needed to preform a single axis movement an etch-a-sketch would be more akin to a cross-gantry setup.
This is brilliant. The next step is take a photo of it and then shake it somehow to clear it, then do multiple frames of an animation! :)
Sick! I would love to hear more about the software side :)
I love the border collie drawing you used
Very interesting! Awesome work!
you hit 1,000 subs like 1 day ago and now you have more than twice that
gotta respect the grind
This was dope dude!
amazingly creative!!!
Damn 1000 subs and 3 weeks later you are already at 10k, keep it up man!
really cool idea and video, thank you :)
This is soooo cool
Like wow
Good job keep it up, glad i subbed:3
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed
Showed the failures as well as the success, e.g. the full story; liked and subbed 👍
Can't wait to say "I was there when he blew up". Great content, dude! Keep it up!!!
Genius! I want to build this.
Give it a try! lmk how it goes
Always so exciting to find a small channel before it blows up to millions of subs, best of luck man, you're well on your way 👍👍🤞
Almost double the subs in less than a day once you hit 1K 🎉. This was the perfect video to launch. Good thing that etch-a-sketch can self draw your 1000 subscriber plaque 😂
Thank you! I had to make my own because TH-cam won't send one for 1000 :(
Coming from 3D printing, if your steppers are hot then you should be able to go to a higher voltage and reduce the amps via the little trim pots on your drivers. With 24 volts and less than 1amp to a motor I can run my printer for hours at high speeds with plenty of torque and they'll still be barely warmer than ambient air. Like 2 degrees F warmer. You can safely run stepper motors at voltages higher than is on their label as long as you keep the wattage under their limit.
Cool project!
My career is in shambles. Awesome work haha
so cool dude. you deseve more subs
This is actually pretty cool, but simple and cheap enough that it shouldn't be out of the question to reproduce it.
My daughter got pretty good at etcha-sketching, but now it's not getting much use so that might be a fun project for this summer. 😎😎
Since you have a pixel-stepper mapping, you could consider doing slightly more complex paths. Part of why your results feel so greyed out is that many etch-a-sketch artists will make multiple passes from different directions to get more of the silver off the panel, letting the dark background show through. For this you could add an algorithm that looks for a minimal cover with rectangles, then have a diagonalization algorithm that uses different slopes to fill each rectangle.
GREAT project, I love it!
This is worthy of Open Sauce
It's normal for the motors to produce a ton of hear and vibrations normally 👍
Thank you! I thought I messed something up
I wondered if there was a bit of binding with them that made it worse though? Like when one motor rotates, the motor on the other side is getting the reaction force to keep the whole bar they are attached to from rotating. When that stepper has to rotate against that, it would take extra force, using more power, and generating more heat. Just my theory
@@WesYarber the bar is quite long and the torque needed to turn the knob is fairly low so I don’t think it caused many problems. With a weaker stepper motor I think it would cause bigger problems
@@micah_tilton yeah I have my own 3d printer with similar stepper motors and after each print they get like 75-85 degrees Celsius
Awesome work, thanks yt for showing me another small awesome channel. I'd love to see some sort of dithering algorithm implemented to go from black and white to somewhat of a greyscale image.
Thank you for the support! I thought of dithering the image however it introduces a lot of noise into the image which reduces the overall clarity of the image. Thank you again! I’m glad you enjoyed
@@micah_tilton perhaps you could abuse the fact that the stylus seems to leave a white outline around any black line? putting black lines very close together may possibly result in a lighter gray.
@@stratos2 Yes, I think some etch a sketch artist do things like that. it would be really cool to learn some of those tricks and make the image a lot nicer
Dude added 1.5x his subscriber count with this one lmao
this is so cool man
You could make a small business out of this. People send you a drawing, do the drawing on an etch a sketch, then drill a hole and remove the silver powder and send it to them. Seems like a really simple business idea. If you decide to do it, let me know and I will be your first customer.
livestream
That was quite impressive. You earnt my sub :)
Thank you! im glad you enjoyed!
DUDE!!!!!! be proud of your amazing brain!
I really enjoyed doing magic tricks when I was kid, it helped develop my creative side
Incredible
This is awesome, such a simple concept but I'm sure that software was a pain to write. Now you just gotta make it do greyscale with varying densities of cross-hatching :D
It was difficult. I had many ideas of how to write the software. I see that you do 3d printing stuff and one of my ideas was, if I could make an stl file of the image, I could slice it in CURA and modify the X and Y gcode to work with the etch a sketch. I don't know how this would work tho
very cool project👍👍👍
Thank you!
Cool project man🎉
Use the full 850x600 resolution of the stepper motors! The Etch-A-Sketch itself does not have a resolution limit, only the dark areas bleed a little outward because of the stylus width. You can still see white between your lines so there is not just resolution but also contrast to be gained from more pixels.
Next, the line does not have to start from the top left. The stylus should first go there for position calibration, then go to the first dark pixel on the path, then pause to allow you to clear the image. Maybe there is an electrostatic or electromagnetic way to clear the image without shaking, or you can shake the entire thing with one or two off-center motors - provided the assembly will survive.
Then just add a tripod-mounted phone as a camera, control it via ADB, selfie stick button or special timelapse app and play a few seconds of Bad Apple!
so cool
i like your videos, you just earned my subscription. goodluck
I’ll subscribe to support your epic creations 🎉
Awesome idea!
... now the only thing missing is some way to automatically clear/purge it and then you can build an awesome auto-updating artpiece (or the worlds worst computer display)
(and regarding stepper motor noise, get some Trinamic drivers for your next project with steppers! Expensive parts, but very capable and well worth the money)
Have my subscription, quality content
hella impressive
That's super cool
automate it to take requests from a vertex image library via twitch chat and then let your robot go stream on Twitch...seriously tho, as someone who owned a etch a sketch as a kid in the 70's/80's this is amazing! cheers
This is really cool! If you somehow made it quieter (maybe by slowing it down?) and put the motors on the back of the etch a sketch, it could be a cool thing to hang on your wall and have constantly drawing new pictures!
Cool project
Wow! That's great! Maybe modify the code a bit to allow it to draw from an SVG? That would allow more control of the texture created by the little needle thing.
Good idea! Thank you!
Amazing stuff man, I would love to see the code that went into this as I am learning a lot of the concepts you used. Its amazing seeing it go from theory into practice
my code is not the best, but it just shows that it doesn't need to be perfect to get something working well
@@micah_tiltonthats perfectly fine, do you have a repo for it?
If you added a switch to the circuit, you could add a "pause" to shake the setup after the corner line, so only the dog is drawn.
I think you might be losing some e-steps there, which is the noises you hear when your adapters are skipping over the ridges of the knobs. Great job, subbed.
Thank you, glad you enjoyed! That could be the case, however, the knobs hold on very well. the noise could be from the steppers accelerating quickly back and forth. I did not implement acceleration smoothing
I’d adjust the stepper current down a bit to see if that helps with the overheating and vibration. They definitely sound overdriven. Otherwise, fantastic robot!
Why is this channel so underrated????
I had one back in the day and was overjoyed if I managed a house with a roof that fitted! I`m way too old 😁
Now you just need to pass the image through an art-filter to create art-style hatchings and shadings the way a human would.
Also remember that you can create darker areas by zigzagging lines closer to eachother than 0.5mm too.
Abonné direct 😁Super projet impatient d'en voir plus !!!
at first glance one of the eyes looks scary and the fur doens't look cute but scary but at the end the cuteness is showing
Right now when the stepper changes direction, it is going at full speed and when it changes direction, it is like driving a car at highway speeds and doing a hard corner. If it slows down at the end of each straight path, it should vibrate and heat up less
I love at 4:40 when it draws just a little bit and you can suddenly see that it's a dog
It’s so satisfying
Heh I'm imagining an alternate reality where all printers are just this. "Whoa dont shake my printout bro I need that."
Handouts at a meeing require a wheely bin full of etch-a-sketches
LOL
That’s so cool
Great Video 👍
Cool project. Steppers run hot, even when doing nothing, so I wouldn’t worry about that.
Thank you! I was a bit worried
@@micah_tilton my cnc machine has steppers and they run around 160-180 degrees. Hot enough that they burn you if you touch them.