SketchBot
Design in pixels, then a robot draws it on paper for real. A camera-vision robot that renders your sketches — and AI-generated art — with a marker on a blank canvas.
## Problem
Robotics should be fun and accessible. We loved flying drones, but wanted something more approachable — a compact robot that creates designs for entertainment and education, especially to help children learn by watching their ideas become real.
## Solution
A web app where you sketch a design (or generate one with AI), streamed over WebSockets to a physical robot that drives across the paper and draws it with a marker — using camera vision to know exactly where it is on the page.
## Demo
Live web app: sketch-bot-xldd.vercel.app
## Features
- Pixel-grid design canvas in the browser, with AI-generated designs via Gemini
- Real-time sketch transfer to the robot over WebSockets
- Camera-vision positioning — the robot sees where it is on the paper and corrects course
- ESP32 + Arduino motor control for precise drawing
- Design storage with SQLite
## Tech Stack
## Challenges
- Motor malfunctions mid-hackathon and Arduino programming complications
- Calibrating camera vision for accurate on-paper positioning
- AI prompt integration and canvas rendering quirks
## Lessons Learned
- Motor engineering and closed-loop correction beat open-loop precision
- WebSockets make hardware feel alive from a browser
- AI-driven canvas graphics need tight prompt constraints
## What's Next
Scaling to multiple robots drawing simultaneously, and multi-color drawing. Built with Hassan Ahmad and Ibrahim Amezyane at WinHacks 2026.
## Gallery
