(^38) July 2018 raspberrypi.org/magpi
adin Batrack enjoys
creating his own small
comics, and likes to
publish a new one every day on
his Instagram account (@cadinb).
Having decided to create a program
to randomly generate high-
resolution comics, he was inspired
to take things a step further.
“Shortly after starting that
project, I was invited to participate
in a local comic show,” Cadin
tells us. “I wanted a way to show off
the random comic software at my
booth, to let people generate and
print a custom comic to take with
them. The obvious solution was
to build a little yellow robot that
vomits comics out of his mouth.”
Out of the mouths
of robots
Having created the random comic
software using the Processing
language, Cadin chose to use a
Raspberry Pi 3 to run this and a
Python script. The latter controls the
robot’s LEDs, handles push-button
input, and sends the comic images
to a mini thermal printer connected
to the Pi via USB. Cadin made a
laser-cut plywood casing to hold all
of the components, and the amusing
little ‘Vomit Comic Robot’ was born.
Projects SHOWCASE
A tiny robot designed to make you
smile? Nicola King sees the funny
side of robotics
It took three
months to
design and
build the robot
Both Python
and Processing
are used
View a video
of it in action
at magpi.cc/
JXhmpT
See Cadin’s
latest comics
on Instagram
@cadinb
He’d like to
make a themed
comic version
of the robot
Quick
Facts
VOMIT
COMIC
ROBOT
C
CADIN BATRACK
A Seattle-based interaction designer
and developer, Cadin enjoys working
on projects that use both his design
expertise and programming skills.
magpi.cc/DzLYlL
The case is
constructed from
laser-cut plywood
A thermal receipt
printer produces
the comic
Press this button to
generate a comic
Due to a lack of
space inside the
robot body, Cadin
used a right-angled
USB plug for the
printer connection