Raspberry Pi-Powered DrawBot Features Easy Interface and Attachment

Drawbots are a clever class of robotic drawing instruments, using a pair of motors to pull a pen in the appropriate directions in order to create a picture on a flat vertical surface. While you’ve probably heard of this, or even seen versions of it in your web browsing, if you’ve considered making your own, this build is quite well refined and documented — and should give you a great place to start.

It features 3D-printed suction cup mounts, allowing it to attach the stepper motors for the build to a whiteboard with ease. Two steppers are used to pull a length of fishing wire attached to the pen holder gondola assembly, featuring a pair of bearings for smooth travel, as well as a micro servo motor to lift the pen as needed.

The project is based on Andy Wise’s drawbot found here, where you can examine his instructions and the Raspberry Pi-based software needed to run the device. If you would simply like to run the software as-is, you can also install everything using the Pi’s command line interface. The drawbot can then be accessed locally using a browser, with an interface that lets you command the movements of your pen and upload an SVG file to have it draw out whatever you had in mind.

Be sure to check it out in action in the video below!