As an interesting twist on the concept of an X-Y plotter, Brandon Green has created a device that can move a pen across the X- and Y-axis of a whiteboard mounted vertically. This allows a great reduction in hardware, all that's needed is two stepper motors and some cord to take care of the physical drawing.
The system is controlled by an Arduino for the hardware section, and the software on the Raspberry Pi takes care of creating the motor control data which is sent back to the Arduino. This is an interesting example of inter-platform synergy and also a lot of fun. All sorts of pattern and images can be created, for example:
For all the details about the polargraph and to make your own, visit Brandon's Google Code page. And for more, we're on facebook, Google+, and twitter - so follow us for news and product updates as well.
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The package includes a wide variety of parts, sensors and modules including: a servo motor, lights, buttons, switches, sound, sensors, breadboard, wires and more. Furthermore a Freetronics Eleven Arduino-compatible board is included to make this an extensive hobby experimenter, inventor and starter kit.
However we don't leave you alone to figure it all out, included is a great project and instruction booklet, plus access to a supporting web page and software examples. In other words - this is everything you need to get started for a fun range of electronics and Arduino related projects! So to get started or for more information and to order, check out the product page.
