Help build a wall-climbing art-bot.

I am an artist in New York. I am looking for someone who is passionate about robotics and creativity - I would like to build a robot to do street art. I need someone to get involved in all aspects of achieving this. From robot design ideas to coding.

Main areas of consideration are:

  • Vertical wall-climbing capability.
  • Orientation awareness of the robot to maintain accuracy of image creation.
  • Compact on-board paint delivery system.

This is a love project. I do however understand that time is money. I am prepared to compensate for time spent as best I can. Hopefully the real compensation will be the form of fame and glory for doing something brilliant that has not been done before. ]:smiley:

I will pay for all parts and equipment necessary. The first conversation should probably be about budget expectation and timing. I live in New York and would prefer working with someone nearby (NY, NJ, CT or even Boston)

Anyone crazy enough to take this on!?
Andrew

What kind of wall? Start there.
Sounds like this could be a grafitti bot.

Yes, that is exactly what it needs to be, a graffiti-bot. So, based on that, it should be capable of climbing rough brick walls to plastered smooth walls. I have thought of using domed fans to create suction to adhere the bot a vertical surface so it doesn't rely on surface grip.

Climbing is difficult. Have you considered a hanging robot?

Best regards
Jantje

That's what I was thinking too. A while back, one of the Paul's (this is bad, am drawing a blank of his user name! and he lives in my town too) made one that drew on walls. I think it had two motors, one to move up with and the second to move back & forth with.
So a larger scale would work - shoot up two ropes, then move back & forth by climbing up the ropes to pull back & forth.
I can't see suction working on anything but smooth walls. Wouldn't want to be standing underneath it!

Hi guys, yes I looked at another hanging one similar to this. It's very cool. Definitely a possibility but I'd like to be able to place it at the bottom of a wall and let it climb without having any existing support structures in place. A totally free crawling bot. The only external piece of equipment would be something for orientation. I am hoping that a laser orientation instrument can track and feedback to the bot.

This is a climbing robot that is using just 1 fan to suction onto a vertical surface.

Jantje did you make that hanging paint-bot? It's very cool.

This is pretty advanced but shows the power of suction.

AndrewerdnA:
Jantje did you make that hanging paint-bot? It's very cool.

I didn't the guy on the picture did with 2 other people on a arduino jam.

I have experience with suction cups. Believe me you will not get anything even remotely close to what you wee on the video on real construction materials (that is everything except glass which would work)

Best regards
Jantje

Do you think with suction I'll be able hold the weight of a motorized vehicle and 2 cans of spray paint?

Maybe on a flat, regular surface. Not on anything irregular such as rock (i.e. not polished granite), stone, cement, wood. Don't think you'd want to be painting on those anyway.

CrossRoads:
Maybe on a flat, regular surface. Not on anything irregular such as rock (i.e. not polished granite), stone, cement, wood.

exactly
Moreover for suction cups you need vacuum. The easiest way is to use compressed air to produce vacuum.
Apart from the expenses (there is little non industrial "stuff" on the market) you will need to have a compressor which will probably not be on the robot (power/weight ...)
So unless you want to go for a carbon 400 bar container on the robot you will have wires which have a weight and will pull your robot down from a certain hight onwards.

The solution used in the jam uses 2 ropes to position the robot. Another option could be to use 1 rope (like a spider) and use the suction caps to move left or right. If you keep the angle small the force can be acceptable but you will still need a couple of caps (with there own pressure control). I don't know how you would position in this solution.

Best regards
Jantje

I wonder if a quadrocoptor could be a better solution. It may not give the same resolution, but a lot of problems disappear.

DannySwarzman:
I wonder if a quadrocoptor could be a better solution. It may not give the same resolution, but a lot of problems disappear.

The problems only disappear when you're standing underneath the copter and its rotors are blowing all of the paint onto your glasses.

Does the gecko feet concept work on brick? Is it actually more than a prototype I saw on NOVA?

Gecko robot from Stanford.

Stickybot III uses special feet to cling to any surface. The robot also has a long tail that helps decrease the weight load each sticky foot has to bear. The feet, inspired by a gecko, are made up of tiny hairs, each about 5 times smaller than a human hair.

http://www.robotliving.com/robot-news/gecko-inspired-robot-climbs-walls/