Robots are rapidly being used for a wide range of jobs in construction, education, healthcare, etc. For example, controlling inventory in warehouse systems can be difficult, especially in an industrial-scale building like a warehouse. When labor is used, the quantity of space used may need to be more efficient, the amount of work done may be delayed due to worker circumstances, and there may be ethical and safety concerns about the workers. There are continual obstacles to robot deployment in all of these instances. Robots must be made aware of their surroundings and capable of working semi-autonomously; this necessitates the development of appropriate sensing and control algorithms as well as path planning methodologies. Our present research is focused on the creation of an autonomous robot that can follow a specified path while avoiding obstacles.
Our robot will be able to move in the direction that we set it. Moreover, it will be able to see what is in front of it with the camera, and we could possibly use image processing in our robot to detect objects. Our project can also evolve into lots of useful applications that solve problems in today's world such as vacuum cleaner, waiter bot, lawn trimming bot, etc.
Our goal is to develop a robot that is capable of following a predetermined path. The robot will be fully autonomous meaning that it will not require any guidance once deployed. Moreover, it will have image processing capabilities for detecting the objects around the robot.
Summary and Accomplishments
We were able to assemble a robot which has mostly achieved precise motion and turn precisely. Moreover, it could follow a predetermined path and avoid colliding with the obstacles in front of the robot.
Future Directions
The following goal would be to implement motor power control into the board so we could achieve smoother movements. Moreover, we would need to come up with ways in which we could calibrate the robot quickly or find ways to calibrate it on the move and potentially integrate an open-sourced AI chatbot to communicate with the robot.
