Introduction: DIY LiveScribe (In Progress)

Why we created this project:

We created this project to experiment with creating an expo marker that would store what was written on the white board, digitally. To do this we started with an accelerometer to determine the x, y, and z coordinates that the pen moves.

Step 1: Parts List

  • 1 ADXL335
  • 1 Arduino Uno
  • The following library installed https://github.com/infomaniac50/ADXL335
  • Electrical Tape
  • Wire
  • A working knowledge of how to program an Arduino
  • Attached you will find the code that we implemented to determine the x, y, and z coordinates from the ADXL335 accelerometer.

Attachments

Step 2: Connecting the Wires

  • GND - To be connected to Arduino's GND
  • VCC - To be connected to Arduino's 5V
  • X - To be connected to Analog Pin A5
  • Y - To be connected to Analog Pin A4
  • Z - To be connected to Analog Pin A3
  • 3.3V - To be connected to AREF

Step 3: Running the Code

Before you deploy the code to your Arduino, make sure that you have the following library installed https://github.com/infomaniac50/ADXL335

After testing the code to make sure it works, deploy the code to your Arduino.

In the Serial Port window you should see a stream of numbers coming in corresponding to the various x, y, and z locations.

Step 4: Next Steps

We've realized that there is a long way to go with this project but the end result would be incredible. Currently, the accelerometer does not provide enough data for the accelerometer alone to be a viable solution to tracking the marker. We've considered using a gyroscope but are still considering other possibilities.

When we are able to accurately track the marker's movement we need to look into using something like Optical Character Recognition (OCR) to convert the words written by the marker into actual editable digital text to be uploaded to teacher's websites in the form of notes.

An alternative would be to just store the actual words "drawn" by the marker and uploading those as image files to the website.

Currently the marker needs to be plugged in to be able to be used, but in the future we hope to be able to have the marker be wireless and have a storage system on board so that teachers can easily just plugin in the marker to their computer to upload their notes.