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Resources and Inspiration

Drawing Machines, Drawing Systems, and other Unconventional Machnines​

  • Drawing Operations: Project Page
    • A series of research projects by Sougwen Chun investigating co-drawing between an artist and a robotic arm.
  • Graffomat: GitHub Repository
    • An open-source project by Niklas Roy focused on creating a specialized, high-mobility robotic system for large-scale graffiti and spray-painting applications.
  • Renment: Project Page
    • Kinetic installation by Yuichiro Katsumoto that forms letters with chains.
  • Sensor Controlled Plotting: Video
    • Assorted drawing machines by Harvey Moon that are controlled via external stimuli.
  • Entropic System: Artist Website
    • An interactive artwork by Laleh Mehran comprised of a 2-axis “drawing” machine and a real-time display screen.
  • Mechanical Interventions: Project Page
    • An investigation by LIA into the interference that occurs when generative code meets the physical limitations of ink, paper, and machine vibration.
  • Painting with Plotters: Project Page
    • A workflow breakdown by Stephan Müller (Eyes of Panda) of how to adapt traditional painting techniques (like layering and color mixing) to robotic pen plotters.
  • Andreas Gysin: Post
    • Kinetic experiments showcasing mechanical repetition and the aesthetics of machine-driven geometry.
  • Cory Haber: Instagram
    • Exploration of generative plotter art and landscape-inspired textures.
  • Mimus: Project Page
    • A giant industrial robot by ATONATON that interacts with visitors using curiosity-driven behavior rather than pre-programmed movements.

Plotter Mods and Custom Machine Builds​

  • The Incrediplotter: Hackaday
    • A voice-controlled plotter built from a repurposed printer.
  • Robot Factory: Project Page
    • Niklas Roy's robot factory project.
  • Tabletop Kinetic Sand Robot: Blog Post
    • A tabletop kinetic sand drawing robot build guide.
  • Art-O-Matic v1: Project Page
    • An automated art-making machine by Inventor Artist.
  • Arduino Faux Spirograph: Hackaday
    • An Arduino-driven spirograph drawing machine.
  • Polar 3D Printer / Spinning Bed: Instructables
    • A polar coordinate 3D printer with a spinning bed.
  • Polargraph Plotter: Tinkercad Project
    • Documentation by Sandy Noble of the drawbot hardware setup—a vertical plotter that uses two motors and a counterweight to draw on walls or large sheets of paper.
  • Interactive Plotter Drawing at SIGGRAPH: Article
    • A write-up on building interactive plotter art for exhibition.
  • Drawing with a Modified CNC: Instructables
    • Tutorial on repurposing CNC hardware for drawing applications.
  • Arnaud Pfeffer: Instagram
    • Focused on mechanical drawings and custom tool heads.
  • Piotr Waśniowski: Instagram
    • Technical plotter experiments and precision linework.

Syllabi and Resource Sites​

  • CMU IDeATe 60-428: Course Schedule (Fall 2021)
    • A comprehensive university syllabus by Golan Levin covering the history, tools, and technical workflows of computational fabrication at Carnegie Mellon University.
  • Painting with Plotters Course: GitHub
    • A work-in-progress course by Licia He.
  • Awesome Plotters: Course Site
    • A curated list of plotter resources, tools, and inspiration.
  • Types of Additive Fabrication Mechanisms: All3DP
    • Overview of cartesian, delta, SCARA, belt, CoreXY, and polar 3D printer architectures.
  • CoreXY Cartesian Motion Platform: Project Page
    • Ilan E. Moyer. 2012. Documentation of the CoreXY motion platform design.
  • MIT CBA HTMAA Machine Building Week
    • MIT Center for Bits and Atoms "How to Make Almost Anything" machine building curriculum.

Academic Research​

Interactive Fabrication​

  • WORM: Programming Collaborative Robots Through Manual Actions for Craft-Aligned Digital Fabrication: ACM Paper
    • Samuelle Bourgault, Alejandro Aponte, Megumi Ondo, Emilie Yu, and Jennifer Jacobs. UIST 2025.
  • MatchSticks: Woodworking through Improvisational Digital Fabrication: ACM Paper
    • Rundong Tian, Sarah Sterman, Ethan Chiou, Jeremy Warner, and Eric Paulos. CHI 2018.
  • Turn-by-Wire: Computationally Mediated Physical Fabrication: ACM Paper
    • Rundong Tian, Vedant Saran, Mareike Kritzler, Florian Michahelles, and Eric Paulos. UIST 2019.
  • Physical Rendering with a Digital Airbrush: ACM Paper
    • Roy Shilkrot, Pattie Maes, and Amit Zoran. SIGGRAPH 2014.
  • Position-Correcting Tools for 2D Digital Fabrication: ACM Paper
    • Alec Rivers, Ilan E. Moyer, and Frédo Durand. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 2012.
  • Handheld Tools Unleashed: Mixed-Initiative Physical Sketching with a Robotic Printer: ACM Paper
    • Narjes Pourjafarian, Fjolla Mjaku, Marion Koelle, Martin Schmitz, Jan Borchers, and Jürgen Steimle. CHI 2023.
  • D-Coil: A Hands-on Approach to Digital 3D Models Design: ACM Paper
    • Huaishu Peng, Amit Zoran, and François V. Guimbretière. CHI 2015.
  • Interactive Robotic Plastering: Augmented Interactive Design and Fabrication for On-site Robotic Plastering: ACM Paper
    • Daniela Mitterberger, Selen Ercan Jenny, Lauren Vasey, Ena Lloret-Fritschi, Petrus Aejmelaeus-Lindström, Fabio Gramazio, and Matthias Kohler. CHI 2022.
  • Interactive Fabrication: New Interfaces for Digital Fabrication: ACM Paper
    • Karl D.D. Willis, Cheng Xu, Kuan-Ju Wu, Golan Levin, and Mark D. Gross. TEI 2011.
  • FreeD: A Freehand Digital Sculpting Tool: ACM Paper
    • Amit Zoran and Joseph A. Paradiso. CHI 2013.
  • Throwing Out Conventions: Reimagining Craft-Centered CNC Tool Design through the Digital Pottery Wheel: ACM Paper
    • Ilan Moyer, Sam Bourgault, Devon Frost, and Jennifer Jacobs. CHI 2024.
  • Plotting with Thread: Fabricating Delicate Punch Needle Embroidery with X-Y Plotters: ACM Paper
    • Shiqing He and Eytan Adar. DIS 2020.
  • p5.fab: Direct Control of Digital Fabrication Machines from a Creative Coding Environment: ACM Paper
    • Blair Subbaraman and Nadya Peek. DIS 2022.
  • Interactive Digital Fabrication Machine Control Directly Within a CAD Environment: ACM Paper
    • Frikk Fossdal, Rogardt Heldal, and Nadya Peek. SCF 2021.

Machine Building Toolkits​

  • MAXL: Distributed Trajectories for Modular Motion: ACM Paper
    • Jake Robert Read, Nadya Peek, and Neil Gershenfeld. SCF 2023.
  • Cardboard Machine Kit: Modules for the Rapid Prototyping of Rapid Prototyping Machines: ACM Paper
    • Nadya Peek, James Coleman, Ilan Moyer, and Neil Gershenfeld. CHI 2017.
  • Jubilee: An Extensible Machine for Multi-tool Fabrication: ACM Paper
    • Joshua Vasquez, Hannah Twigg-Smith, Jasper Tran O'Leary, and Nadya Peek. CHI 2020.
  • StepDance: A Toolkit for Redesigning CNC Machines Using Physical Metaphors: ACM Paper
    • Ilan Moyer, Devon Frost, Emilie Yu, Maria Yang, and Jennifer Jacobs. CHI 2026.
  • Fabricatable Machines: A Toolkit for Building Digital Fabrication Machines: ACM Paper
    • Frikk H. Fossdal, Jens Dyvik, Jakob Anders Nilsson, Jon Nordby, Torbjørn Nordvik Helgesen, Rogardt Heldal, and Nadya Peek. TEI 2020.
  • A Parametric Model for Creating Customized Fabrication Machines: ACM Paper
    • Frikk H. Fossdal, Rogardt Heldal, Jens Dyvik, and Adrian Rutle. MODELS 2020.

Studies of Practice​

  • "Ah! he wants to win!": Social Responses to Playing Tic-Tac-Toe Against a Physical Drawing Robot: ACM Paper
    • Avital Dell'Ariccia, Alexandra W.D. Bremers, Wen-Ying Lee, and Wendy Ju. TEI 2022.
  • Tools, Tricks, and Hacks: Exploring Novel Digital Fabrication Workflows on #PlotterTwitter: ACM Paper
    • Hannah Twigg-Smith, Jasper Tran O'Leary, and Nadya Peek. CHI 2021.
  • Being the Machine: Reconfiguring Agency and Control in Hybrid Fabrication: ACM Paper
    • Laura Devendorf and Kimiko Ryokai. CHI 2015.
  • Plotting and Art (Master's Thesis): University of Lapland
    • Tomi Dufva. An academic thesis analyzing how the use of pen plotters shifts the creative agency between the artist and the machine.
  • Nothing Like Compilation: How Professional Digital Fabrication Workflows Go Beyond Extruding, Milling, and Machines: ACM Paper
    • Mare Hirsch, Gabrielle Benabdallah, Jennifer Jacobs, and Nadya Peek. ACM TOCHI 2023.
  • It's Not the Shape, It's the Settings: Tools for Exploring, Documenting, and Sharing Physical Fabrication Parameters in 3D Printing: ACM Paper
    • Blair Subbaraman, Nathaneal Bursch, and Nadya Peek. CHI 2025.
  • Dynamic Toolchains: Software Infrastructure for Digital Fabrication Workflows: ACM Paper
    • Hannah Twigg-Smith and Nadya Peek. UIST 2023.

Software and Creative Coding Resources​

  • p5.plotSvg: GitHub Repository
    • A library by Golan Levin that enables p5.js users to export clean, plotter-ready SVG files, managing tool-up/tool-down commands efficiently.
  • p5.fab: GitHub Repository
    • A library by Blair Subbaraman for direct control of digital fabrication machines from a p5.js creative coding environment.