Pixelbot 3000: The First Lego Printer

The YouTube channel Creative Mindstorms has developed a unique Lego printer that automatically assembles mosaics from Lego bricks, creating works of art reminiscent of masterpieces like da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” or Hokusai’s “The Great Wave.” This new device, called the “Pixelbot 3000,” uses artificial intelligence technology to simplify the mosaic creation process.

The idea was originally inspired by another project—Bricasso. That printer, introduced eight years ago, required a lengthy preparation process: you first had to manually design the mosaic, print it on paper, and then scan it with the printer’s camera before it could start working. In contrast, the Pixelbot 3000 makes the process much easier.

How Pixelbot 3000 Works

To create a mosaic with the Pixelbot 3000, all you need to do is enter a description of the desired image. The request is sent to OpenAI’s generative neural network, DALL-E, which creates a simplified, cartoon-style image at 1024 x 1024 pixels.

Since it’s difficult to get a perfectly print-ready pixel image from DALL-E right away, the creator’s custom code divides the picture into a 32 x 32 grid and automatically adjusts the colors, reducing the number of colors used in the image to 15. This is because the Lego printer uses a set of bricks with only 15 colors, while the full Lego palette includes about 70 colors. Even that number is still far from the 16+ million colors supported by the RGB color model.

Transforming AI Images for Printing

Converting the neural network’s image for proper printer operation is a key step in the process. Building, assembling, and programming the Pixelbot 3000 took the creator about six months of significant effort. For those looking to relax, it’s recommended to watch the 15-minute video from Creative Mindstorms, which shows the journey of turning the Pixelbot 3000 idea into reality.