Fade Away: Using a UV Laser to Write Tweets

[appterranova]

Hey, Matt. Nice to see you working on some interesting projects. This looks similar to one a friend of mine is doing on at letsmakerobots at node/30651 (flipin' no-linkin' youtube).

[mrichardson23]

@appterranova Thanks for sharing, Andrew! Looks pretty cool. I have to crack open a geometry book so that I can learn to do circles like he has.

[weaponeer]

very cool project

[InfinityBryan]

engadget brought me here...

[MonkeyFCoconut]

Really unique and interesting idea Matt. Keep the creative juices flowing. BTW... ever since you did that Halloween episode as Mulder from X-Files, all I see is Mulder in you. It's not good or bad, it's just Mulder! X-Files was one of the best shows back in the day so it's all good.

[topherquoter]

amazing

[nootropicdesign]

That's really excellent work, Matt.

[gravelbar]

Fantastic, thanks for sharing; keep us informed!

[oskay]

Nice machining!



[shrimants]

If i was a woman, you would be approved to make babies with.

[huevonIII]

keep it up dude!

[wsanriv]

Men I love your idea, you have great videos and great ideas, you inspire me to make DIY.

[mrericsully]

Love the idea!

[skierplaterandy]

that is awesome!

[dunnoson2009]

Awesome Matt! Please turn this project into an instructional clip because I would like to try it out myself.

Keep bringing us interesting stuff like always, Matt!

[tuva600]

cool



[4harrytje]

in one word, amazing

[ZeR0TM]

Awesome!

Will you post instructions, so i can build one myself? Thanks!

[ketsuekikun]

what kind of application you think this project will have in the end result

[weaponeer]

very cool idea



[xanokothe]

Thank you for answering our questions Matt. It makes us feel special =P

[GroovyDrifter]

I love it, its awesome.

Maybe you can make it write faster if you put the laser on a fixed position an just move a little (almost weightless) mirror to point the beam. You can consider this even if you want to change to less powerful and cheaper motors.

The effect is just mesmerizing...

[iomer90]

I am currently a student of electrical engineering and i have to say man that is some creative work.

[mrichardson23]

@iomer90 Thanks!

[xanokothe]

It's awesome. One of your best projects! Would not it be more accurate if you write, instead of one letter at a time, one row of pixels for each sentence?

[mrichardson23]

@xanokothe Thanks! You're absolutely right about writing one row of pixels at a time. But I didn't want it to be entirely "machine-like" so I decided to make it write one letter at a time. In fact, my initial plan was to have it write in cursive, but that was getting too complicated and I had a class deadline for this project.

[xanokothe]

@mrichardson23 Anyway, fantastic project. Looks like someone was writing by hand. I would not put any logic in the microcontroller would be tricky. Would you use a Java program, and the Arduino only send signals to the servo, so you might as well write text, draw pictures ... In the Java program, you would write a BufferedImage in the text, and another module of the program to convert commands pros servants.

Q2: Do you have any idea how to write it faster?

[mrichardson23]

@xanokothe Ultimately, I hope to make the project wireless (from the internet, not electricity) so that it would be easy to install in a gallery one day. I've considered using an ultra small PC to plot the cursive and send G-code out to drive the servos. It would just have to be small enough to fit inside the piece.

As far as getting it to write faster, yes. I can make it go faster, but it starts to get a little sloppy, so I need to have it ease into a point rather than jumping to it.

[HK4367]

I like the arduino and lasers!

[k4294R5p7c]

That is amazing! You would be helpful, if you could tell me, what you studied in college, to have the experience to work on such a project.

[mrichardson23]

@k4294R5p7c I studied Film and TV production, but now I'm in grad school at NYU's ITP program.

[matthewtchernev123]

@mrichardson23 hi matt, my name is also matt and i actaully saw this on facebook. i like that project. write back. thanks bye.

[mrichardson23]

@matthewtchernev123 Thanks for watching! Glad you like it!

[Aaron16]

@k4294R5p7c You don't need to go to school to learn all this, You can teach your self a lot, you just need to be motivated to.

[mrichardson23]

@Aaron16 I'm with you 100%. Most of what I know about this sort of tech I learned on my own before I went to grad school. I decided to go back to school to push me even further.

[vidm96]

very creative

[mrichardson23]

@vidm96 Thanks!