TSP-Bot: Robotic TSP Pen Art using High-DoF Manipulators

UR 2024

KCGS 2021, 🏆 Best Undergrad Paper Award

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Abstract

TSP art is an art form for drawing an image using piecewise-continuous line segments. We present TSP-Bot, a robotic pen drawing system capable of creating complicated TSP pen art on a planar surface using multiple colors. The system begins by converting a colored raster image into a set of points that represent the image's tone, which can be controlled by adjusting the point density. Next, the system finds a piecewise-continuous linear path that visits each point exactly once, which is equivalent to solving a Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP). The path is simplified with fewer points using bounded approximation and smoothed and optimized using Bézier spline curves with bounded curvature. Our robotic drawing system consisting of single or dual manipulators with fingered grippers and a mobile platform performs the drawing task by following the resulting complex and sophisticated path composed of thousands of TSP sites. As a result, our system can draw complicated and visually pleasing TSP pen art.

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Robotic Setups

Daul Manipulators

Two sets of UR5e with Robotiq 3-F adaptive gripper

Mobile Manipulator

KUKA iiwa 7 R800 and Clearpath Ridgeback

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Drawing Results

Dual Manipulators Drawing Results

Starry Night

Big Ben

Mobile Manipulator Drawing Results

Heart

Violet

EWU

Character

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Drawing Statistics

	Starry Night	Big Ben	Heart	Violet	EWU	Character
Canvas Size (mm2)	315 x 250	214 x 300	400 x 350	850 x 300	3600 x 400	600 x 400
# of Stippled Points	81,591	76,257	21,664	95,155	154,475	31,151
Stipping Time (sec.)	32	34	2	35	32	-
TSP Solving Time (sec.)	6	11	4	17	43	-
Drawing Time (min.)	124	63	61	585	662	110

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Bibtex

UR 2024, "TSP-Bot: Robotic TSP Pen Art using High-DoF Manipulators":

@article{song2022tsp,
    title={TSP-Bot: Robotic TSP Pen Art using High-DoF Manipulators},
    author={Song, Daeun and Lim, Eunjung and Park, Jiyoon and Jung, Minjung and Kim, Young J.},
    journal={arXiv preprint arXiv:2210.07592},
    year={2022}
}

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Contact

Ewha Computer Graphics Lab

Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Ewha Womans University
📍 52, Ewhayeodae-gil, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, Korea, 03760
📞 +82-2-3277-6798

✉️ Daeun Song¹, daeunsong@ewhain.net
✉️ Eunjung Lim¹, ejunglim12@ewhain.net
✉️ Jiyoon Park¹, jiyoonpark13@ewhain.net
✉️ Minjung Jung¹, juilejungh63@ewhain.net
✉️ Young J. Kim¹, kimy@ewha.ac.kr
¹ Ewha Womans University, Korea