November 21, 2013

Drawing images with an Arduino-controlled laser

Rising to the challenge of a recent competition launched by the "Hack-a-day" website, electronics enthusiast Enrico devices an original device for his entry. The aim of the competition is to create something to display the logo from HAD, and his entry draws it using a laser controlled via an Arduino and two servos.

As you can imagine the refresh rate for such an image is quite low, however by using a very long exposure time with a camera the results are quite passable, for example:

The process for creating the data points required for the sketch to control the servos is interesting, and Enrico also supplies python code to help this process. Overall it's an interesting project and could also be modified for various forms of art of simply having fun with lasers - so visit Enrico's blog for the required details on how to reproduce your own. And for more, we're on twitter and Google+, so follow us for news and product updates as well.

If you're looking for an Arduino Uno-compatible board to work on projects like this, choose what thousands of others have done and use our Freetronics Eleven - the Arduino-Uno compatible with low-profile USB socket, onboard prototyping space and easy to view LEDs: 

Leave a comment

Comments have to be approved before showing up.