Beachbot Draws Lines, Dogs, Turtles in the Sand

[IDemo]

Robots are evolving rapidly — and now, they've finally drawn a line in the sand. Literally.

The Beachbot is a turtle-shaped robot that uses a retractable rake and a bevy of onboard sensors to draw elaborate lines and designs on sandy surfaces.

As a prototype, the Beachbot still has a few bugs that need to be worked out, but its creators at the Disney Research labs say that it will soon be able to execute enormous designs that stretch across an entire beach.

For now, Beachbot can only create designs within a 10 x 10-meter square area, which needs to be marked by four poles with reflective material on them. With its onboard laser scanner, Beachbot will detect the poles and use them to determine the borders of its drawing area.

http://news.discovery.com/tech/robotics/beachbot-draws-lines-dogs-turtles-in-the-sand-150113.htm

[Tobin S.]

1. Cool!