SketchBot

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  Robot pen up

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  Robot pen down

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  Robot Top View

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  Submitting a canvas to the robot

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  Command Center

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  POV when Robot is drawing

Inspiration

We were inspired by flying drones, but wanted a more approachable, playful experience: multiple small robots running around making designs for fun, learning, and helping kids learn more.

What it does

SketchBot takes a sketch from our web app and, via WebSockets, sends it to a robot. The robot then draws that shape on a large sheet of paper.

How we built it

We built the web app with Next.js and SQLite, used WebSockets for real-time communication, and powered the robot with an ESP32 + Arduino. Once the robot receives the sketch data, it uses camera vision to understand where it is on the paper and draw accurately.

Challenges we ran into

Building the robot was the hardest part: motor issues, Arduino code quirks, and getting the camera vision to understand position on the paper. Another tough challenge was sending the AI prompt and rendering its response correctly on the canvas.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We built a fully working web app connected to a robot that actually moves and draws.

What we learned

We learned a lot about motors, Arduino development, how WebSockets work end-to-end, and using AI to drive canvas drawing.

What's next for SketchBot

We want to scale from 1 robot to 3 or more working together to complete a sketch faster, and add multiple colours.

Built With

• arduino
• esp32
• gemini
• nextjs
• python
• sqlite
• websockets