Inspiration

Our project is largely inspired by the lack of tools that exist for people with limited dexterity to write effectively. Everyday tasks like completing homework assignments on paper or taking written exams become a huge challenge for those who have temporarily or permanently lost sufficient handwriting ability.

What it does

Our initial goal was for the robot to process speech input and convert it into written text on paper. Currently, the robot can process the words "up," "down," "back," "forward," "left, " and "right," and match its movement accordingly. This demonstrates fundamental writing ability that can be built upon in the future.

How we built it

Our robot chassis is made of wood, which we mounted our Raspberry Pi, Arduino Uno, and Adafruit Motor Shield V2 to. We used AndyMark stealth wheels which are driven by stepper motors. We custom 3D printed motor adapters and a marker holder which attaches to a servo.

Challenges we ran into

We were a two-person team! Limited maker experience Limited resources -- initially wanted to use a motor with an encoder; couldn't find any :( Faulty hardware, which we had to replace during construction

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Bella used CAD software and 3D printed for the first time! Survived our first makeathon

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