Disney's BeachBot Creates Sand Art
Posted on January 19, 2015
Disney has launched BeachBot, an autonomous robot that creates art in the sand. BeachBot is a cute turtle-shaped robot with three wheels and an orange shell. The robot can create lines in the sand using its special rake. These lines can range from 5 centimeters to 40 centimeters wide.
The rake BeachBot uses to make the lines has seven movable elements that are activated by servo motors. The robot is sealed from the sand with its aluminum shell and sealing lips. A laser scanner mounted on BeachBot and reflective poles help mark the border of its drawing field. Software created by the ETH Zurich team is used so the turtle bot can transform images into sand drawings.
It is easy to see how Disney could use the BeachBot to create sand drawings of Disney and Marvel characters and entertain crowds. The robot can currently use a canvas as large as 10-meters by 10-meters. The developers say they could develop a bot that can create enormous drawings. Paul Beardsley, a principal research scientist at Disney Research Zurich, tells Automaton that it could be scaled up to create one kilometer long drawings. He says, "The dream is to create huge amazing drawings like the Nazca Lines."
Here is a video of BeachBot in action. Take a look:
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