MarkOff Processor

Created on 03 Nov 2017

An autonomous robot to erase whiteboards

MarkOff Processor (MOP) is a robot that attaches to a whiteboard and autonomously erases old marks on the board. We will use neodymium magnets to attach the MOP to the whiteboard. We will have a webcam watching the whiteboard from the ground, which will send data to a computer running OpenCV. The computer will plan the movement for the MOP and send instructions to the MOP over bluetooth.

@tpina

Tabatha Pina

@msjohnso

Maxwell Johnson

@bney

Brendan Ney

@jasonx

Jason Xu

@arudich

Avi Rudich

Part Cost Quantity Total
EXPO Low-Odor Dry Erase Set, Chisel Tip, Assorted Colors, 8-Piece $6.48 1 $6.48
Markers for writing on the board (and maybe for the robot to draw?)
SAN81505 - EXPO Dry Erase Eraser, 4 Packs $6.48 1 $6.48
Erasers for the MOP
Ball Caster Plastic - 3/8" $2.95 2 $5.90
Casters for balancing and moving
Chanzon 3mm LEDs - 100pcs (10 colors x 10pcs) $6.89 1 $6.89
LEDs for indicators
Gorilla Super Glue, 15 g $4.19 1 $4.19
Superglue for assembly
TAG Inflatable Lounger $34.95 1 $34.95
Crash pad for when the MOP falls
Thin Speaker $0.95 1 $0.95
Speaker for status and HCI
SparkFun Triple Axis Accelerometer Breakout - ADXL335 $14.95 1 $14.95
Accelerometer for localization and potentially for detecting falls
Tenergy 6V 2000mAh NiMH RX Battery Packs $10.99 1 $10.99
Battery pack for motors
Wheel for Micro Continuous Rotation FS90R Servo $2.50 3 $7.50
Wheels for moving
Feather Stacking Headers - 12-pin and 16-pin female headers $1.25 1 $1.25
Headers for easy connections
Lithium Ion Polymer Battery - 3.7v 500mAh $11.98 2 $23.96
Batteries for board and peripherals (not motors) (edited by officers)
Adafruit Feather nRF52 Bluefruit LE - nRF52832 $24.95 1 $24.95
Microcontroller for the MOP with built-in bluetooth for communicating with a computer.
Continuous Rotation Micro Servo - FS90R $7.50 3 $22.50
Motors for movement
High-Pull Rare Earth Magnetic Disc $3.31 6 $19.86
Magnets for sticking to the board
BLUE Scratch-Resistant Acrylic, 12" x 24" x 1/8" $14.27 1 $14.27
Acrylic for the body of the MOP
Oil-Resistant Soft Buna-N O-Rings 2 mm Wide, 40 mm ID $5.94 1 $5.94
O rings for wheel grips
VELCRO Brand - Sew On Fasteners - 3/4" Wide Tape - 30" - Black $4.23 2 $8.46
Velcro to attach felt/eraser to MOP
TNP USB 3.0 Extension Cable (15 Feet) $8.27 1 $8.27
USB extender to reach the webcam mounted on the whiteboard
Logitech HD Laptop Webcam C615 $31.99 1 $31.99
1080p webcam to view the whiteboard (track the marks and the MOP)
Project Totals: 32 $260.73
Track 1 Base Budget: $250.00
Preferred Vendor Budget Bonus: $50.00
Remaining Budget: $39.27
Maxwell Johnson 17 Jan 2018, 1:50 a.m. EST
We finally made some progress on bluetooth! We can send data from the arduino to the computer using gatttools (and at 2am that name is really funny). Still working on the important part, sending data from the computer to the arduino :)
Maxwell Johnson 15 Jan 2018, 4:16 p.m. EST
Midway through day 1! Tabatha is making prototype hardware to test the magnets and eraser, Brendan is working with OpenCV to find the whiteboard marks, Jason is using color tracking to localize the MOP, and Avi and I are making the path following code.
Maxwell Johnson 16 Jan 2018, 12:34 p.m. EST
We got most of the rest of our parts last night! Today, Avi and I are working on establishing a bluetooth connection between a laptop and our Adafruit Feather. Also, Brendan is working on path planning, Tabatha is making our first physical prototype, and Jason is deskewing the video feed of the whiteboard.
Maxwell Johnson 17 Jan 2018, 12:42 a.m. EST
We're having a lot of trouble connecting bluetooth D: Other parts of the bot are coming together though, notably the frame for the bot! We'll try to have pictures available tomorrow
Maxwell Johnson 17 Jan 2018, 3:54 p.m. EST
We (finally) got bluetooth completely working and wrote a little python wrapper around the gtttool running in a shell. Brendan's trying to get foreground detection working so we can filter out somebody working at the board. Tabatha has the hardware designed and this evening we're printing, lasercutting, and assembling it.