Introduction

As a child, you probably once picked up an “Etch-A-Sketch”, the simple toy made by Ohio Art. As you turned both knobs to control the direction you probably also found the plotter difficult to control and the entire experience difficult. Now that we are older and wiser we have a chance to fix that. We propose to add simpler inputs and more functionality to an existing Etch-A-Sketch in order to make that once infuriating experience even more fun for kids of all ages.

This new “Ultimate Etch-A-Sketch” will be able to direct the plotter’s movements with an analog joystick, making it easier to control and more entertaining. Also, since the Handy Board will control it, the “Ultimate Etch-A-Sketch” will be able to draw more complex figures than the original knobs, which are not the best interfaces for advanced drawing.

Since we will be adding functionality via the Handyboard, we also propose to add additional programmatic functionality. Once we have finished the mechanical and electrical design necessary to complete the simple drawing operations, we will focus on adding programs to our “Ultimate Etch-A-Sketch”. These additional programs are not entirely necessary to achieve our goal, but we believe they would be fun and worthwhile.