"The Creeper"

Zombies are your friends, families, and loved ones. They have been infected with a disease that has made them behave in ways much more aggressive than usual, driving them to the point of murder and cannibalism. It has been shown that there is a direct link with the Zombie virus and these aggressive tendencies. Though there is no cure at this time, there is hope for those infected. Like all viruses, we can fight it and revert the victims back into healthy humans.

Finding a cure for the zombie virus will take time and resources. Time is infinite, as long as zombies do not overrun your position, and resources are abundant, yet spread across the country. The only choice is to have a mobile lab.
With a mobile lab, survivors return to a hunter-gatherer society, scavenging and searching for their needs. The mobility also protects them from zombie swarms, as their bodies can easily pile-up and eventually overwhelm any position.

Because no ones knows what the horizon may bring, a flexible design must be achievable with the mobile lab. It must constantly change its role, like an aircraft carrier on land. Fortunately, NASA already has something similar, the Crawler-Transporter for the space shuttle.
Properly outfitted, “The Creeper” can slowly navigate the unknown path towards finding a cure for the zombie virus.

This is part of the 2011 Zombie Zombie Safe House Competition. The goal is to design a house or shelter to survive a zombie apocalypse. All aspects of the competition are open for interpretation.

 
Rendered Image

In February of 2010, I approached friend Nick Reed and asked if he would like to work on an idea. Enthusiastically, he agreed and we began work on that idea, a machine that mixes a printer with a graffiti artist.

Technology has advanced and you no longer need to be a software engineer to operate a robot. The Limitless Plotter puts the power to print on any wall into the hands of the designer. By utilizing parts from a CNC kit, we created a machine that plots 2D images with a variety of medium onto vertical surfaces.

The drawing starts as a vector image on the computer. From there, RhinoCAM generates G-code that is interpreted by freeware Mach3 into a series of electronic pulses. These pulses are dispersed by the external control board that power the three stepper motors driving the axes. Using the X and Y axis to control the position of the tool on the surface to be painted, the Z axis controls the applying or non-applying of the drawing medium. The drawing tool can be an airbrush, marker, dry erase marker, or pencil.

  • This was exhibited at the Maker Faire 2010: Detroit. The machine was awarded “Editors Choice” by the magazine.
  • Blog documenting the design and build process can be found here.

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