Robot Solves Sudoku on Paper

Sudoku is a great way to pass some time, especially on a long flight. However, we don’t think the airlines will let [Sanahm] board with his sudoku-solving robot. The basic machine looks like a 2D plotter made with aluminum extrusion, with the addition of a Raspberry Pi and a camera. The machine can read a sudoku puzzle, solve it, and then fill in the puzzle with a pen. Unlike humans, it should never need to erase its work.

The software uses OpenCV to process the camera data, find the grid, and the cells provided by the puzzle. TensorFlow recognizes the numbers. From there, it is all just math to solve the puzzle. Once solved, the plotter part of the robot takes over and fills in the blanks. After all that, this seems like the easy part.

There’s no video, but the original post has an image of the machine doing its thing. The repository has all the information about the electronics, mechanical construction, and the firmware.

We remember a similar project done with Lego Mindstorms. If you need help getting OpenCV on the Raspberry Pi, we’ve talked about that before, too.

Filed under: Arduino Hacks, Raspberry Pi