The Hamster Powered Hamster Drawing Machine Is Exactly What It Sounds Like

The Hamster Powered Hamster Drawing Machine is a hamster running in a hamster wheel powering a mechanism that draws, you guessed it, a hamster running in a hamster wheel. (Try saying that five times fast.)

As silly as Neil Mendoza’s project may seem, the contraption actually required a great deal of engineering and digital savviness. Per its description, the hamster drawing is encoded in two large wooden cams. The cams were generated by creating a simulation of the drawing machine using openFrameworks and Box2D. They were then exported as vectors and CNC milled from plywood.

To be able to have the drawing encoded on the inside, rather than the outside, edge of the cams, it was necessary for them not to have a central axis. This was achieved by milling two aluminium circles with a groove in each of them for a roller chain to sit in. The sandwiched chain then sits on three sprockets around the edges of the back part machine. The drawing arms were also milled from aluminium with pockets for laser cut acrylic inserts.

The hamster is displayed on a small LCD screen connected to a Raspberry Pi running software written in openFrameworks, which sends ASCII commands to an Applied Motion STM23IP-3EE stepper motor over Ethernet to control its speed.

According to Mendoza, this is the device that will “finally bring workout selfies to the animal kingdom.” You can decide for yourself after watching it below!