Paint Head

The Early Robots

Went searching for and found these images of the early robots.  

The first robot started with a lot of wood pieces. 

The very first paint head was a disaster, but this second one worked real well.

The Second Robot was built to be more mobile.  It fit just barely through doors.

The third, of which I have lost all the photos except this one, was built to be massive.  It filled a room.  Also important was that it had an open face so I could photograph the painting more easily in order to use feedback loops in the painting logic.

After these unnamed machines came Crowd Painter, BitPaintr, Neural Jet, and cloudpainter.

Airbrush Actuator Complete

It is amazing how much an invitation from the White House can speed up development.  Long hours this weekend went into getting a working airbrush prototype.  While paint brushes will remain the primary mark making device in the Neural Jet, it will be cool to have them backed up by five airbrushes with the ability to quickly paint backgrounds.  

 

Also cool that we went with the servos instead of something like a solenoid to control air flow.  With our servos we can actuate the air coming out to 16 different pressures.  So mixing becomes possible, and since we have 5 airbrushes on the paint head, the Neural Jet will be able to paint over 1,000,000 colors (16^5).  Yeah this part of the project really is just re-inventing a printer, but coupled with the other mark making tools that are coming, it will be on the next level.  You can see the prototype in action below.

Paint Head Prototype Constructed

Hunter and I constructed the first prototype.  It consisted of ten physical parts. The tray and nine plug-in modules.  If you want to experiment along with us and this prototype, you can download the 3D plans from our downloads page.

Once 3D printing was complete, some parts of the tray were glued together with super glue. The modules could then snap into place and be removed as needed.  While we hope the final paint head does not need any glue, we were experimenting with how things fit together and super glue offered us the most flexibility at this stage of construction.

 

Based on a several lessons learned with the Q prototype, we set out on a number of improvements for the next iteration.  The main problem we are now trying to solve is how to suspend The Neural Jet from either an xy-table or a robotic arm.  

 

New Robot Design Finalized - Will be ready in 3-6 months...

Getting through your paintings at about 3 a week,  Will post schedule of next 6 portraits some time around Sunday. If you need yours sooner than later, let me know.

CMYKW NeuralJet Printer

So I am zeroing in on the final design of bitPaintr. Above is a quick sketch of the concept that I am leaning towards. In addition to an artist's brush, I am adding between 3 and 6 airbrushes that will operate very similar to an inkjet printer by mixing Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, and Black ink to try and replicate as many colors in the spectrum as possible. Better than an inkjet, it will also include White and possibly some other mystery ink or finish. The airbrushes will not replace the brush, but be used for quickly filling in backgrounds.  Another concept that I am considering is to let humans paint with the artist brush while allowing the robot's AI to paint with the airbrushes.  Thinking of calling it a NeuralJet Printer.

 

But don't worry, this will not be a printer in the traditional sense. I promise that it will be just as messy and ridiculous as all my previous robots.  I have never even used an airbrush before, so I have no idea how I am going to program my robot to use one. Another way I am leaving my comfort zone is following the advice of my friend Mark to switch to pneumatics. Mark has also been telling me to use airbrushes for years now. I am finally listening to all his advice. Before last week, I didn't even know how to spell pneumatics and I had never used an airbrush. Despite this I fully intend to convert my robot into an air powered system in the next 3-6 months.

New Robotic Head Installed on Painting Robot

In a post long ago I promised to show a history of robotic heads used by my painting art robot, Zanelle.  Here it finally is.  Below are pictures of the first three robotic heads that were used to hold a brush and apply brush strokes to canvas.  None of these are being used any longer.  They have been replaced by my fourth and fifth robotic head, the fifth one is pictured even further below.

The first head was absurd (top).  A hand wrapped electro magnet that worked so poorly I had to have counter weights on the opposite side of the brush.  But it made cool strokes.  Unfortunately it only lasted a couple of weeks before I replaced it.

The second head was awesome (middle).  Completely hand made primarily with wood, this robotic head painted for over a year without failure.  I just retired it today and replaced it with a new head.  Its only problem was that it would overheat and loose electromagnetic strength the longer it was in operation.

The third head was acceptable (bottom). It worked O.K., but didn’t have the style of the second.  Also, it would jam occasionally.  That is why when the fourth robotic head was constructed, I replacedis one with it instead of the second.

The fourth robotic head (unpictured), looks very similar to the fifth robotic head which is pictured below.  It was designed and fabricated by Jacobus McKenzie.  It does a majority of my paintings these days.

The fifth robotic head (above), was just installed on one of my painting robots.  It too was designed and fabricated by Jacobus McKenzie.  I worked with him to make a couple of improvements over the fourth one.  I do not know how well it works yet as it is currently in the middle of a test run.

Will keep you updated…

Pindar