Whiteboard Erasing Robot using Arduino

The second section, and more complicated part of the project, is the webcam and computer base control station located opposite the whiteboard. Utilizing an standard webcam and vision software at the computer base station, the robot locates any text anywhere on the whiteboard. It does this by using a series of filters and processing functions within the vision software, RoboRealm. In RoboRealm I used many different filters to find the center-of-gravity of the text on the whiteboard. The center of gravity cannot be found based on just the webcam image. I first used a RGB filter to eliminate everything but the green writing. Then the color is inverted by a Negative filter. The image is then converted from the Negative image ( the pink “hello”) to black and white using a gray-scale filter. This is necessary because the center of gravity can only be found on a black and white image. Then a center-of-gravity module is used to find the center of gravity. RoboRealm is a great software that has many uses and features. To find out more about the software go to www.RoboRealm.com

*The code that is attached is a basic proof of concept code.  It shows how the eraser would move to the text, no matter where it is on the whiteboard.  Move your mouse to simulate where the text is written.  In order to use the code, you need a copy of RoboRealm.  The standard cost is $89, or you can download a 30-day free trial at http://www.roborealm.com/registration/index.php