Like other drawing robots, the XPlotter can recreate a digital image into a pen-and-paper creation. Unlike them, it also doubles as a laser engraver and a programmable pick-and-place robot arm, allowing you to use it for a whole host of projects.
In plotter mode, the device uses a robot arm that can clamp onto pens, markers, chalks, brushes, and all sorts of writing instruments, allowing it to perform everything from drawing and painting to lettering and calligraphy. It’s programmed to hold writing instruments at a specific angle and perform strokes at a set pace, ensuring everything it writes and draws actually look handmade. You know how plotters require a digital image as input? Not this one, as the software can randomly generate images on its own, which it can prompt the plotter to start drawing for those days you’re hankering for something original.
Aside from the pen-holding robot arm, the XPlotter also comes with an integrated laser that can engrave those same images into wood, leather, fabric, and other materials, with the hardest it can handle being anodized aluminum. The laser is set in a fixed angle facing the build area, too, so the chances of accidents are very minimal. And, yes, the laser is strong enough to completely cut into all materials it can engrave other than anodized aluminum, so you can use it to build prototype enclosures for your projects, too.
Lastly, it pulls triple duty as a pick-and-place robot, utilizing an integrated vacuum pump to latch onto objects, which it then repositions anywhere you program it to. Granted, you’ll have to get creative to find uses for the last one, but having the option is definitely great.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the XPlotter. You can reserve a complete unit for pledges starting at $529.