​calligraphy ​by ​herald
Herald: a fountain pen calligraphy machine
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Herald is a machine designed and built by five undergraduates at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering. Olin emphasizes an innovative, hands-on approach to engineering education that leads to project-based courses. This particular project was created for the Principles of Engineering class, which the five of us took during the Fall 2012 semester.
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​The course requires that students work in teams to produce a project that involves significant mechanical, software, and electrical components. Our team's goal was to integrate these to create a machine that would produce beautiful calligraphy, inspired by the written art form.
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Our machine has precise three-axis control. It uses a graphical user interface (GUI) that allows the user to input and format text. These inputs are then processed and passed to our microcontroller, which directs our stepper motors to produce the strokes that form text.

For more information about our general design process, goals, and inspiration, see our design page. For technical details, see our mechanical, software, and electrical pages (under the design tab).