Plot Messages on a Beautiful Beach with This Sand Drawing Robot

Most people go to the beach to swim in the ocean, create sand castles, or perhaps scratch crude messages in the sand, informing passerby that “J loves A,” that there is an “X” marking possible treasure, or other important news. Creator Ivan Miranda, however, made a sand drawing robot to spell out his messages for him.

The device takes the form of a gantry-style system that you might be familiar with from your CNC router or 3D printer. One axis is pulled back and forth with a belt drive and motor setup. The other axis, though, is different than a traditional CNC machine, as it moves across the beach using four wheels. Instead of spindle or extruder, the sliding portion simply has a hobby servo that pokes into the ground when needed, intermittently rending the sand.

This process is repeated over and over to spell out the message, “MAKE SOMETHING,” and with a sufficient amount of time and programming, any message or drawing should be possible. Be sure to check it out in action in the video below. Even without the awesome robot demo, the beach scenery is beautiful enough to be worth a look.

For another beach-going robot, why not check out the ClearWalker Strandbeest as it attempts to traipse around in a similar sandy environment!