LEGO Mindstorms EV3 Photo Printer Java Lejos 0.6.0
I must start by saying, that if I could start building this robot from the beginning, I would do it completely different. I was my first Mindstorms robot and first Java program ever, almost without any prepared project. I didn't know this golden Lego Mindstorms building rule: the simpler, the better. If you have any objections about too many bricks used and a messy code, I'll agree with you. I also used some non-Lego parts, like PMMA base, marker or tape. I want to thank Arthur Sacek for building the LEGO 3D Milling Machine - "3D Printer" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX1cO2XhMrg It inspired me to build this robot. I used some of his building instructions. How it works: Almost everything is written in Java using Lejos 0.6.0 (http://www.lejos.org/). The image is resized and flipped accordingly. Next, using Python Imaging Library (http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/), the image is converted to a 1-bit, photo, then again with Java converted into a simpler array and sent to EV3 brick using scp. Then the robot prints line after line of the picture, meanwhile monitoring battery level, time to end etc. It has to stop to save progress more or less halfway through each picture, to have it's batteries recharged. The source code is far from being robust. I wanted to achive high stiffness of the robot, but adding more and more bricks gave the opposite resoults. Maximum resolution is 310x730 pixels, which gives a 0.226 megapixel print. DPI is around 90, which is not bad, I think. Average printing time was 15-25 hours, depending on the image size. SCP libraries (Jsch): http://www.jcraft.com/jsch7 Music : http://www.freestockmusic.com/2013/easy-listening-production-music/free-soothing-production-music-finally/ Sources and more pictures: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6ZduAlrz5GWbTlrY1g1aXE3VDA&usp=sharing Feel free to comment!
I must start by saying, that if I could start building this robot from the beginning, I would do it completely different. I was my first Mindstorms robot and first Java program ever, almost without any prepared project. I didn't know this golden Lego Mindstorms building rule: the simpler, the better. If you have any objections about too many bricks used and a messy code, I'll agree with you. I also used some non-Lego parts, like PMMA base, marker or tape. I want to thank Arthur Sacek for building the LEGO 3D Milling Machine - "3D Printer" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pX1cO2XhMrg It inspired me to build this robot. I used some of his building instructions. How it works: Almost everything is written in Java using Lejos 0.6.0 (http://www.lejos.org/). The image is resized and flipped accordingly. Next, using Python Imaging Library (http://www.pythonware.com/products/pil/), the image is converted to a 1-bit, photo, then again with Java converted into a simpler array and sent to EV3 brick using scp. Then the robot prints line after line of the picture, meanwhile monitoring battery level, time to end etc. It has to stop to save progress more or less halfway through each picture, to have it's batteries recharged. The source code is far from being robust. I wanted to achive high stiffness of the robot, but adding more and more bricks gave the opposite resoults. Maximum resolution is 310x730 pixels, which gives a 0.226 megapixel print. DPI is around 90, which is not bad, I think. Average printing time was 15-25 hours, depending on the image size. SCP libraries (Jsch): http://www.jcraft.com/jsch7 Music : http://www.freestockmusic.com/2013/easy-listening-production-music/free-soothing-production-music-finally/ Sources and more pictures: https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B6ZduAlrz5GWbTlrY1g1aXE3VDA&usp=sharing Feel free to comment!