NXScannerT is an open-source robotic book scanner that is built with lego Mindstorm. It has robot arms to flip pages of the book and the mechanism to turn the phone camera to face left and right page of the book as well as press the smartphone camera button. With built-in Sensors, it is able to detect page jam and fix it with robot arm or notify users to fix. The project's initial prototype was built at Enghack and was later being improved. Here is the link to the prototype on Hackthon: http://devpost.com/software/scan-go-pshtd0
Back strain is a reality for many university students. According to Jacobs [3], approximately 85% of university students experience discomfort and pain due to backpack usage. The most frequent anatomical zones of discomfort are the shoulder, lower back, upper middle back, and neck. The recommended weight of a backpack is no more than 10-15% of a student’s body weight [1]. However, the average weight of a single textbook is around 3.5 pounds, which is significant [2]. In contrast, the weight of the average laptop is around 5 pounds [2]. Carrying multiple notebooks and loaded binders during the school day can be tiresome and extraneous. As the number of courses increases, the amount of material to transport can become quite substantial. This heavy load for a student to carry can be a chronic stress to the body, causing discomfort and pain.
The goal of this project is to construct a robot, the NXScannerT, which parses a book or set of notes and converts each page to an electronic copy. This robot design is practical for all students--especially for those who may have physical conditions further inconveniencing the transport of numerous physical documents. This project includes several objectives: Firstly, the robot should effectively flip the pages while simultaneously pressing the button on a phone-based scanning app to scan a set of documents. This robot should check for page jams during flipping, and should be optimized to take the clearest pictures. The robot should also be adjustable based on user calibration. For example, based on the size of book, the robot will be adjustable by the user to set the correct orientation for the phone camera to take pictures.
[1] Free Press Release, 'Study: Most University Students Self-Report Discomfort, Pain Due to Backpack Usage', 2015. [Online]. Available:http://www.free-press-release.com/news-study-most-university-students-self-report-discomfort-pain-due-to-backpack-usage-1220451127.html. [Accessed: 15- Nov- 2015]. [2] L. Nilsen, 'E-textbooks win fans, but some students still prefer paper', Denverpost.com, 2015. [Online]. Available: http://www.denverpost.com/ci_20397608/e-textbooks-win-fans-but-some-students-still. [Accessed: 15- Nov- 2015].