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That's a 'plotter' input device you're descibing - it used to be quite a
popular input device for CAD (and I think still is at the high end of the
market), but for general use, the mouse has replaced it.
I remember building something similar for my BBC Computer about seventeen
years ago (showing my age here...), before mice were generally available.
Sounds like a fun application for lego mindstorms!
"Ben Erwin" <ben@alum.mit.edu> wrote in message
news:G6tF6w.H9w@lugnet.com...
> Idea: Drawing shapes with a robot and then getting them into the computer
>
> ok, i haven't thought this one all the way through, but here is an idea • that i
> had a long time ago, i forgot about, and then it cropped up again today in • my
> head...
>
> A robot with two angle sensors that is constantly datalogging them both • and the
> timestamp for each. One angle sensor records forward/backward movement, • and
> the other records side to side movement. The mechanics could be somewhat • like
> the Technic 8094 plotter, with racks, but no worm gears, because I want
> hand-driven passive motion, not motor driven.
>
> The idea is that you would grab the robot (or if it is stationary thing, • like
> the 8094, then just grab the "pen" part) and move it in a certain shape. • Then
> you upload the data into the computer. Then, with ROBOLAB Investigator • Compute
> Tools 5 (G Code), or something like Excel, you turn the raw data into
> parametric (angle sensor1=x, angle sensor2=y) and plot it over time.
>
> If I remember correctly, I think ROBOLAB does something to remedy the fact • that
> both sensors won't necessarily be taking data with the exact same • timestamp.
> This would be something that would need to be corrected in other • environments
> so that the time stamps are equal.
>
> This is a different spin on the other fax machines, plotters, scanners, • and
> "robots that draw things with a pen" that exist out there. The difference • here
> is that you don't draw something first and then scan it in to get the
> information in the computer - but just "draw" it. Has someone does this? • Is
> it even possible to get anywhere near accurate results?
>
> I got this idea when working on writing up the Infrared FAX Machine (made • from
> two 8094 Technic kits) for my book back in June.
>
> -ben
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Message is in Reply To:
 | | Robot Idea (been done before?)
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| Idea: Drawing shapes with a robot and then getting them into the computer ok, i haven't thought this one all the way through, but here is an idea that i had a long time ago, i forgot about, and then it cropped up again today in my head... A robot (...) (23 years ago, 7-Jan-01, to lugnet.robotics.rcx, lugnet.robotics)
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