Donatello is a drawing robot powered by the Raspberry Pi. Unlike CNC plotters and other classic drawing robots, Donatello chooses what to draw rather than simply printing predefined images. Turtle graphics are a time honoured computer graphics concept where graphics are drawn to the screen by commanding an imaginary turtle to move around the screen and draw pixels wherever it goes. Donatello brings this idea in to the physical world by literally moving around its canvas based on input from its on-board downward facing camera.
This robot is controlled by a Raspberry Pi running custom computer vision software. The downward facing web cam inside the body looks for previously drawn lines and changes state accordingly. Donatello has two wheels at 120 degrees from each other. This geometry is inefficient for locomotion but leads to more complex drawing patterns based on the rigidity of the robot body. This gives Donatello a more unique personality.
Donatello also has a younger brother called Raphael with faster processing power and a different shape and drawing style.