By Michael Guagliardi & Prachi Sanghavi

ECE 476, Spring 2004

Intro

Our project is a “Non-Orthogonal Plotter”, a drawing device which can sketch pictures and print letters on a sheet of paper as you command them!

Are you an architect that freezes up when it comes to hand-drawing ideas during a meeting because you can’t draw straight, neat pictures?  Does your disability prevent you from being able to clearly express your ideas without a bulky computer in front of you?  Does your child have a hard time learning how to write?  With the Non-Orthogonal Plotter, people can have a machine hand-write and draw for them!  Children can follow the pen of the system to learn how to print letters, write in cursive, and draw pictures!  The Non-Orthogonal Plotter is a horizontal drawing device that makes use of two stepper motors that control the lengths of two strings to draw and write on a sheet of paper.  The user can freely draw in eight different directions, choose to plot manufacturer built-in drawings, plot line segments of user-defined length and angle, and print upper-case alphabet text and numbers.  Special added features include a solenoid to lift the pen off the paper when desired and a user-friendly menu that is full of options and easy to navigate.