Marco Lurati

Interactive plotter

Drawing plotter for natural history museum

Abstract

The Interactive plotter titled “From Africa...and return” is an installation on the journeys of the swallows from Switzerland to Africa. The installation uses kineticism and a paper poster to engage the visitors in an analog-digital experience. By selecting a theme from a tablet application, the machine moves a pen that draws the information on a poster that can be taken at the end of the visit.

The installation combines the craft of custom metal parts, the programming of a tablet application, and genuine Swiss graphic design.

Datas

year

2017

scope

SUPSI LCV

team

Giovanni Profeta Serena Cangiano

client

Museum of Natural History of Lugano

exhibition

X-Nature. Il tempo della terra e il tempo dell’uomo

curiosities

about 1500 poster drawn

process

From Africa...and return is an interactive installation designed by LCV/Fablab SUPSI for “X Nature”, an exhibition dedicated to the natural history of Canton Ticino (CH) through the minerals and the objects of Cantonal museum of natural history in Lugano. The exhibition was open to the public from 2016 to 2018 and featured the installation within a more extensive public experience.

The installation consists of an analog-digital machine that visualizes the swallows' journey from the Magadino area to the African routes in Nigeria.
The interactive installation, co-designed with a biologist and expert on the swallows in Ticino, has been realized to provide an experience based on kineticism and drawings.

By selecting a theme from a tablet application, the visitors can activate a mechanical arm that moves a pen. The pen draws the data and the paths of the swallows: the lifetime, the size, the summer journey, the winter journey, the nesting period, etc. When the drawings are complete, the visitors can take the physical paper poster as an exhibition souvenir.
The kinetics of the mechanical arm that draws on the poster invites the visitors to enjoy the slow emergence of the information patiently, and it plays with the time that alters the usual fast-paced experience with the interactive technology using only screens and digital content.

For the exhibition's duration, the plotter drew about 1'500 posters with just the replacement of two servo motors.

  • Unboxing the mechanical components
  • Openbuilds parts had been used for a quick and simple build
  • Arduino Mega with Marlin and RAMPS shield take care of the motor's movement
  • First drawings already working just few days of prototyping
  • The rigidity isn't great for the moment
  • CNC cutting aluminium parts for the custom build to improve the quality of the movements
  • Shiny alu parts mounted
  • The Core XY design of the plotter is quite interesting but it requires a specific belt path and it has to be perfectly tight to work
  • The movement of the pen (Z axis) is done using a metal wire pulled by a servomotor mounted on the frame to keep a clean design
  • Mounted on the final MDF base, the belt is getting installed again
  • Cables are managed as cleanest to not get tangled while the plotter is moving. There aren't many parts needed actually
  • The electrical switch is acting as a "self killer" in case the plotter goes out of control: it will disconnect the 12V from the RAMPS shiled.
  • On the Surface PC there is the Processing sketch of the plotter and it's connected to the Arduino Mega to send the g-code to it
  • Almost there, still needs some black paint
  • Small trick with a resistor in parallel to draw some minimal current to keep the USB port of the power supply active.
  • The poster with also all the drawings for the pen

skills

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