Drunken Drawing Robot !

Inspired by the pocket drunken robot, I wanted to give the robot a job to do. I decided to let the drunken robot make some drawings. To make your own you'll need the following: 

materials:
3 felt-tipped markers 
a button cell battery
some adhesive copper foil
a vibrating motor from a cellphone or pager

a laser cutter ( run to your local fablab, or order from ponoko! )
some plexiglass or wood for laser cutting (light wood seems to work best)

Here's some in action:

Once you have your materials ready you'll need to make a couple quick measurements. We're going to be making a special plate to hold everything, so you'll need to find out the diameter of your pens and your vibrating motor. We'll use these measurements to cut out holes in the plate to hold the pens and the motor. 

 Fire up your favorite vector graphics program and design your plate. I used a triangular shape which is nice and stable, the middle hole is for the motor. I made the hole for the motor a little off-centre so the robot's movements are more eccentric.  Then you'll fire up the laser and cut out your plate. 

 Slide your pens into the holes in the plate. You can slide the motor in to its hole as well, insert it with the leads sticking up so you can easily attach the batter without flipping the robot over. Attach the leads of the motor to the sides of the battery with the adhesive foil. If the motor doesn't fit in its hole you can always use some hot glue to secure it in place. Your robot should start buzzing now! 

 let your drunken robot go nuts! make some friends for him to bump into and make even cooler drawings.