We’re big fans of Rocketbook’s reusable and connected notebooks, which lets you save all your notes while reusing the same pages over and over. Seriously, these guys have made some innovative products. Well, they’re back with another. This time around, though, they’re going after a boardroom staple with the Rocketbook Rocketboard.
No, it’s not a replacement for your office whiteboard. Instead, it’s an upgrade that turns any ordinary whiteboard into one whose contents can easily be digitized. That means, there’s no need to buy one of those high-tech whiteboards if all you want is a digital copy of everything that gets written down, since this thing can handle that all on its own.
The Rocketbook Rocketboard is a set of four stick-on beacons that you’re supposed to put in the corners of any existing whiteboard. Once the beacons are installed, you can launch the companion app and use it to scan the whiteboard, after which it will automatically digitize everything. The app uses the beacons as markers, allowing it to determine where the exact whiteboard is located in the frame, regardless of your distance and positional angle from the actual board. From there, it will isolate the whiteboard in the frame, orient it as flat 2D image, and save it in digital form.
This allows you to make digital copies of the whiteboard wherever you are sitting in the room, making it extremely convenient to use during meetings, since you won’t have to get into a good angle or distance to take a proper photograph. You can even set the app to auto-scan at timed intervals – just make sure to position your phone at an angle where it can frame the whiteboard and you’re set, ensuring you’ll have updated notes of everything written in the board while keeping your focus on the meeting. Just like with their connected notebooks, the scans will be digitally enhanced, so everything is clear and easy to understand, complete with an OCR option, so you can convert all text scribbled on the board into actual text you can transfer into a word processor. You can even automatically give each digital file a title by scribbling the title you want on the whiteboard, then putting two hashtags at the start and the end (e.g. ##Title##).
The Rocketbook Rocketboard’s beacons come with micro-suction rear surfaces, allowing them to stick to whiteboards without using any adhesive. That means, they can be easily removed and placed on another whiteboard, in case you decided to replace the whiteboard you have now with a larger unit. The beacons don’t actually contain any electronics, either, so you can trim them at will, allowing you to make them smaller, in case you plan to install in on a smaller whiteboard (you don’t want the beacons to take up too much available space). According to the outfit, any whiteboard more than three feet in either width or height won’t require trimming, but you should consider it for anything smaller.
A Kickstarter campaign is currently running for the Rocketbook Rocketboard. You can reserve a unit for pledges starting at $12.