Instructors and students lose valuable class time erasing the whiteboard, reducing the effectiveness of lectures. Our project attempts to solve this problem with the Eraser-Bot. While lecturing or conducting class, a teacher can use the device to erase the whiteboard without diverting attention from the classroom. The device provides an automated method for erasing a whiteboard, which is not widely available in schools and universities at this time. The user can preserve parts of the board that he/she wants to save for later and can continue to lecture and write on the board while the Eraser-Bot handles erasing other areas.
The project consists of three main components: the Eraser-Bot, a camera module with an on- board processor, and an Android application. The Eraser-Bot is like a remote control car with an eraser strapped to its underside that can be raised or lowered. It magnetically attaches to the whiteboard navigating to portions of the board the user desires to have erased. The user uses the Android application to specify these regions. An image is sent to the Android device from the camera module, which is placed in front of the board conveniently attached to either the roof or a projector, via a Bluetooth connection. The user can then box the sections they desire to have erased. These coordinates are transmitted back to the camera module, the brain of the Eraser- Bot. The camera module handles the detection of writing and calculates Eraser-Bot movements, continually updating them to keep the eraser-bot on its intended course.