• Features
• Example
• Philosophy
• Site
• Ardunio
• FAQ
• Installation

• svg2gcode: convert svg files to gcode to run on the machine.
• draw: draw your own svgs
• live: see a live stream of the machine
• tcp: TCP support for GCODE instructions with arduino
• ink box: currently the tattoos are done with inkbox gel. REAL to come later.

show some examples

The goal of this project is to create a machine capable of tattooing a human arm. In the interest of this project, we are limiting our machine’s tattooing capabilities to drawing with a pen. We hope our project will initiate discussion about the role of machines in artistic, creative work. Our aim is to make (temporary) tattooing more accessible for artists who don't have time to apprentice under someone, and to let a user receive a temporary tattoo of their choice through a machine.

To initiate this discussion and explore the role of machines in art, we hope to answer the following questions: Will the user’s experience with a machine be better or worse than if they went to a human tattoo artist? Can machines replace humans in the realm of art and tattoos? We trust machines to carry out highly complex tasks — will we trust them with something that is artistic in nature?

The site is built in Flask. Main components are svg2gcode, gcode d3 visualizer, and the TCP to arduino capabilities. Each of these functionalities is in its own module for use outside of this project.

The software responsible for controlling the Mad Tatter is written in the arduino .ino language.

ask andrew

The initial project was proposed with real tattoos in mind. For safety reasons, the course staff would not let us make a machine capable of actually tattooing a human arm, but Michael plans on continuing the project to add support for real tattoos.

Schematics available upon request.

Please send us more gel!!

To run the flask web app...

python run.py