Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video] • Hacker News Board

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#51

Post by quicklyfrozen » Sat, Sep 12, 2015, 3:58 AM UTC

rhizome wrote: post #50

arey_abhishek wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the previous whiteboards force you to buy a projector or invest in smart pens. This costs ~150USD to make vs. 1500USD+ for the kind of smart boards that existed in the past.

I forget the name, but I worked at a place ~1997 that had one that I'm pretty sure used regular board and pens. It had two bar-like devices affixed to a side and along the top of the board.

I remember that product. It seemed like a good idea, but it just couldn't keep up with writing at normal speed so we gave up on it. (You also had to put a special collar on the otherwise normal markers.)

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#52

Post by rhizome » Sat, Sep 12, 2015, 4:53 AM UTC

quicklyfrozen wrote: post #51

rhizome wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I forget the name, but I worked at a place ~1997 that had one that I'm pretty sure used regular board and pens. It had two bar-like devices affixed to a side and along the top of the board.

I remember that product. It seemed like a good idea, but it just couldn't keep up with writing at normal speed so we gave up on it. (You also had to put a special collar on the otherwise normal markers.)

Yes, the collars! I remember it had a kind of kiddie-name and maybe some blob-type design elements.

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#53

Post by fuzzythinker » Sat, Sep 12, 2015, 5:43 AM UTC

arey_abhishek wrote: post #13

OP here. If you'd like to see a kickstarter project out of this, please upvote this comment!

You need to add your contact in your HN profile. Tried to contact you for notification when it goes on kickstarter.

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#54

Post by monopolemagnet » Sat, Sep 12, 2015, 7:16 AM UTC

phpnode wrote: post #40

olympus wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that you asked, but here are some ways I think you could go about releasing this to the public and make some money off of it (only one method uses Kickstarter): 1. You could do a Kickstarter where you sold a kit that you sourced with hardware from Alibaba and code you wrote yourself. This would be a lot of effort, but could be fairly profitable if the KS succeeds. 2. You could release some how to instructions on…

> 3. You could release your code on GitHub for free and let people pay you out of the kindness of their hearts, either through PayPal, Patreon, or Gratipay. Please don't do this, you will starve. Very few people are able to make enough money from open source in this way and I don't think this is the kind of thing that's suited to it. Commercialize this technology, market it, sell it.

Exactly. Corporate and university shops often come off like the rich-yet-freeloader archetype whom goes to the donation-based museum or listens to NPR but never puts anything in... with loads of cash they can afford easily afford it, but they won't it if they can have their maintenance folks can put it together for "free."

The main considerations revolve around:

a. Is it patentable? (OP should contact a former USPTO examiner or a reputable legal shop like Orrick.) Provisional patent a minimum, seems a must, or it's not worth going forward if Mr. Wonderful can knock it off in China.

b. Is it worth the effort to source and offer components which are commodities? Some folks want "batteries included" and will pay for it, so mark those up to where it makes sense to make it worth the while.

Disclaimer: I've worked inside ivy school research and non-research depts and enterprise shops too.

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#55

Post by CamperBob2 » Sat, Sep 12, 2015, 7:48 AM UTC

joezydeco wrote: post #36

One tip from someone that has worked with IR emitters/detectors: make sure your product can handle direct and reflected sunlight. I'd hate to see you getting all the way through a kickstarter and then finding out you need to rework your frame to reject ambient and stray IR.

Don't these types of systems always use AC modulation for just that reason?

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#56

Post by imakesnowflakes » Sat, Sep 12, 2015, 9:20 AM UTC

bobosha wrote: post #26

couldn't we have a webcam to stream/record the video? or perhaps capture snapshots? If needed we might subtract the human from the video stream using some basic machine vision techniques.

Exactly my thoughts when I saw this. The problem with writer obstructing the view can be solved by place the camera behind the board and using a translucent white plastic sheet for the board. If the front of the board is illuminated well, then the camera shouldn't have any problems in capturing the stuff being written on the translucent board. Mirror the image in software and you are done!

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#57

Post by Milner08 » Sat, Sep 12, 2015, 12:05 PM UTC

I remember my dad having something very similar in his office when I was a kid. You could write on it like a normal white board then it would print out a copy of it for you.

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#58

Post by allencoin » Sat, Sep 12, 2015, 2:16 PM UTC

olympus wrote: post #22

arey_abhishek wrote: post #13

OP here. If you'd like to see a kickstarter project out of this, please upvote this comment!

Not that you asked, but here are some ways I think you could go about releasing this to the public and make some money off of it (only one method uses Kickstarter): 1. You could do a Kickstarter where you sold a kit that you sourced with hardware from Alibaba and code you wrote yourself. This would be a lot of effort, but could be fairly profitable if the KS succeeds. 2. You could release some how to instructions on…

I could see a product like this with handwriting recognition software for transcripts and the ability to sync with Evernote and other services as very popular in the corporate world.

If you think about the man hours wasted transcribing notes from lengthy whiteboard sessions, you could make a pretty solid ROI argument to execs: "Shorten your meetings, let your employees pay attention, automatically self-document all meetings for future reuse."

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#59

Post by deutronium » Sat, Sep 12, 2015, 2:17 PM UTC

Out of interest, I was looking at one of the IR touchscreen frames you linked to.

The control boards seem to vary in terms of the number of touch points they can monitor.

So I'm wondering how you distinguish between a marker pen and the larger whiteboard eraser.

Is it possible to access the raw output from the IR sensors I wonder.

Re: Dry erase board lined with IR sensors to record pen strokes [video]

#60

Post by hagope » Sat, Sep 12, 2015, 3:21 PM UTC

joezydeco wrote: post #37

arey_abhishek wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All the previous whiteboards force you to buy a projector or invest in smart pens. This costs ~150USD to make vs. 1500USD+ for the kind of smart boards that existed in the past.

You get 42" versions from China for USD$118 each. I'd focus on the software improvements and benefits. http://goo.gl/N02wRa

you could probably connect this to rPi to make it smart/connected.