Why paint your own Easter eggs when you can have a robot do it for you? The Sphere-O-Bot is an open source project from Evil Mad Scientist, and has been modded to draw intricate designs on your Easter eggs. 

The tradition of painting eggs is one that many families hold dear on Easter Sunday. There are few things in life that excite creativity (and a sugar rush) in kids like tie-dying eggs and sifting through their Easter basket to find the prized chocolate-shaped bunny rabbit.

Let’s face it, kids love painting their Easter eggs. But you know what else they love? Robots. The Sphere-O-Bot offers the best of both worlds. This popular open-source robot has been modded into a device that will decorate your eggs with any design you choose.

The Sphere-O-Bot is described as a simple 2 axis drawing machine that can draw on spherical surfaces. This means you can use it to decorate your Easter eggs, as well as ping pong balls, Christmas decorations, and more.  Aside from the robotics kit, manufactured by jjRobots, all you need to do 3D print the various parts and input the correct code.

Sphere-O-Bot: What Do You Need?

You can either try to source the Sphere-O-Bot parts independently or simplify things by ordering the entire build kit from jjRobots for $110. Here’s everything you need to build your own Sphere-O-Bot, all of which is included in the kit:

• 2x 623 bearing
• Threaded steel rod (3mmØ,80mm length) (not shown on the photo above)
• 1x compression spring (4,5mmØ, 10 mm length)
• 2x 1.8deg HIGH QUALITY NEMA 17 Stepper motors (40mm length) (4.4Kg/cm torque)
• Motor cables (14+70 cms long)
• USB cable
• 1x SG90 servo
• Arduino Leonardo compatible
• JJRobots Brain Shield 
• 2x A4988 Stepper motor drivers
• Power supply 12v/2A
• 6mm M3 bolts
• 16mm M3 bolts
• M3 nuts
• 2x 20mm Suction Cups
• 1x M3 wing nut
• 1x Sharpie Pen

Sphere-O-Bot: Putting it all Together

There are a few steps involved in the assembly process of the Sphere-O-Bot, all of which are summed up quite simply in the following diagram:

You’ll start with the drawing arm and the left egg support, which is where the servo motor will be installed. Next, fix the stepper motors and assemble the X axis rod to the main frame. Once everything is placed in the correct position, it’s time to connect the electronics and cables.

Thankfully, the electronics provided in the Sphere-O-Bot kit require no soldering, making it easy to hook everything up. Lastly, program the Arduino Leonardo and start learning to control your robot. Of course, you’ll need to view the expansive assembly guide to get things right, but we just wanted to give you a quick idea of how easy this project actually is.

You can find the full assembly instructions, along with the necessary STL files and code, on the jjRobots website. Watch the video below to learn more! And, for those celebrating this weekend, Happy Easter!