Abstract—This paper proposes mobile robots with scanning and plotting capabilities as a solution towards printing large two dimensional designs. In this respect, maintaining accuracy of the design during reproduction is an important factor. This paper proposes a novel two-step approach to design such robots to serve the purpose. The first step involves an image processing technique which converts an input design/image into an m x n matrix of desired size and resolution. The second step involves feeding this information to a micro-controller that controls the movement of the robot on the subjected area of reproduction. We elaborate on how robot's movement and plotting can be simultaneously controlled using our approach. The proposed approach is further verified by building a prototype and subjecting it to various pattern designing tasks. The simplicity of the design and flexibility in plotting can be useful to produce complex figures on a given area.
 

Index Terms—binary image, gray-scale, image processing, microcontrollers, serial communication

Cite: Jaydeep Saha, Tejas Niphadkar, and Arpan Majumdar, "Drawbot: A Mobile Robot for Image Scanning and Scaled Printing," International Journal of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Research, Vol. 5, No. 2, pp. 124-128, April 2016. DOI: 10.18178/ijmerr.5.2.124-128