7

FIELD TEST

WIBBLE WOBBLE
The print quality of the Line-us is, frankly, inaccurate.
It appears that the resolution on the servos just isn’t
high enough to accurately reproduce images, and
there ends up being a noticeable wobble to the lines.
If you’re after something for drawing straight lines
or detailed images, you’re going to need something
else. However, the raison d’etre of the Line-us is as a
sketcher. The slight imperfections in the lines can add
to the visual effect of this.
What takes the project from toy to hackable tool
is that the API to control the device is accessible.
Controlling the device is just a case of opening a TCP
socket and sending G-code. There’s a Python class to
help you do this, and examples in C and Processing,
but it’s fairly straightforward to do in any language.

It’s easy to imagine a variety of maker projects

using the Line-us. The form factor makes it easy

to include anything that needs a graphical output.

Perhaps the most obvious is a camera that

vectorises images and sketches them out, but it’s

far more flexible than this. It’s not limited to ordinary

pens – anything that will fit into the penholder will

also work. Dry erase markers are an obvious choice,

but more exotic options can also work. The Line-

us team have drawn on biscuits using royal icing,

for example.

Line-us is a fun tool that’s easy to get started with

and easy to program. It’s priced competitively with

other plotters, but comes with some pretty huge

caveats – most notably, the small print area, and the

accuracy (or lack thereof) in the prints.

An easy and fun

way of robotic

drawing, but

with a little

wobble in

the lines

8 / 10

VERDICT

FIELD TEST

Above

The Line-us is

simple to set up, just

plug in the power

and insert a pen