If you’ve ever seen a delta 3D printer work, you’ve certainly been amazed at the careful coordination of three motors to accurate position a carriage. While impressive in this role, delta robots can be used for much more, from laser engraving, to pick-and-place operations, to automated phone testing, or even playing the piano.

To make these systems a bit more accessible, Doan Hong Trung has developed an open source delta robot — dubbed Delta X — based on an Arduino Mega and a RAMPS 1.4 board that can do all of these jobs and more. 

Details on the modular kit are available here, along with many more clips of it in action. It’s slated to debut on Kickstarter soon, and you can sign up on deltaxrobot.com to be notified when it launches. Design files for the build will be released when successfully funded.

Interactive designer Alexia Léchot has built a delta robot with a ‘personality’ that interacts with humans through iPads. Deltu uses three moving arms, a couple Unity3d applications, and Arduino to play simple mimicking games.

According to Creative Applications:

The system uses two Unity3d applications where the application of the human sends HTTP request to the computer. There is also a Python server that sends the string through the serial to the Arduino which controls the robot.

The other player must precisely copy Deltu’s movements because it “is very demanding.” If not, it might change its mind and will shake its arms in a side-to-side motion that appears to simulate frustration. From there, Deltu leaves the game and opens the camera app instead, snapping selfies and posting them to Instagram.

As you can see in the video below, the robot even takes a few moments to browse the social network’s explore section and follow a new account, as well as choose some tunes on SoundCloud.

Depending on its mood, it plays with the user who is faced with an artificial intelligence simulation, who appreciates the small pleasures of life, sometimes too much. The relationship we have with robots/AI that have been created to enhance our performance, but have become a source of learning, is unique and exciting. The android’s place in ociety has not yet been defined and remains to be determined; for me it is the best source of inspiration.

Intrigued? You can see Deltu in action below, and read more about the project on the Daily Mail.

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Driven by the sudden longing for a personal Delta Robot I found myself building one.

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Homemade delta robot. It uses an Arduino as a servo/relay controller. Data is transferred over serial port from a homebrewed Qt application to the Arduino.

It was made as a high school project.