CHAPTER
ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Backgroundto theStudy
A robot is seen as a machine of the
modern day with improved technological advancements and robotics is one of the
subfields of mechatronics. It is a considered to be a mechanical/virtual
artificial agent, usually a goal driven machine,an electro-mechanical machine
that is being run based on series of computer programs or electronic circuitry.
A robot based on the concept of medicine which is having the ability to reason
and also have a sense of intelligence by mimicking an automating movement.
There are different categoriesand types of robots. Examples are: The wheeled
robot, crawling robot and legged robot etc. The Robot combines four independent
subsystems to accomplish this task: navigation, vision, program and wireless
control, all of which are mounted on a mobile platform. All of these subsystems
are interfaced through a microcontroller.
Various advances
have been made in the world of technology and robotics, a few of those
advancements have been observed in artificial intelligence, security in general
and so on but the concern here deals with an obstacle avoidance vehicle that
incorporates knowledge from computer science, robotics, system analysis, algorithm,
and electro mechanics, mechatronics, software development, engineering and
programming an autonomous robot. This study major on the ability of the vehicle
to detect and move past obstacles using components that enable these functions.
Electronics have found their place
into the developmentand the initiation of the first electronic autonomous
robots produced in Bristol England by William Grey Walter in the year 1984, also
the first digital and programmable robot was invented and named Unimate in the
year 1954 by George Devol. SumitGarethiya
in is dissertation “the first ever system to detect an obstaclewas
developed by Delco System operations, Goleta of California in 1988”. Thestudy
was mainlya safe way to spotsobstacles on road then informthe motorist.
In the world today, robotics is a
fast growing innovation. With the evolving of different technology in various
fields of science, human life has become more convenient and relaxed with the
advancement of technology that brought about a robot.. Robotics are used in
places that are dangerous for human to reach directly, these robots are used in
those places by gathering information from the environment to avoid obstacle. Robot
are used in factory/industry to prevent workers from beinghurt.
Nowadays many industries e.g (legos robotic) are making use robots
because of the level of efficiency, performance and dependability which is of
great help to human life. The design of obstacle avoidance robotic car need the
integration of many components like the ultrasonic sensor,
microcontroller, diodes, motor drivers IC, DC Motors etc according to their
task.
This study
proposes an autonomous robotic car that has the ability to control
itsdirection when an obstacle comes in its path. Thiscar is constructedwith a
micro controller of(PIC16F84Afamily). An ultrasonic sensor is used to sense any
obstacle ahead of the robotic car and forward the signal to the
microcontroller. The input signal received would determine, the way the microcontroller
interpret it and control the robot to move in an alternative direction by triggeringthe
motors which are done through a motor driver.
The main task of the car is to go
in a straight direction and whenever the obstacle car senses an obstacle in its
way, and this is done with the use of an ultrasonic sensor and dodge the obstacle
and then continue in its own path. Obstacle detection is the primarilyobligation
of this self-drivenrobot. The robot gets it information from is immediate
environmentwith the help of the sensor fixedrobot, there are various sensing
devices like, infrared sensor, ultrasonic sensor, cameras etc. We would be
making use of ultrasonic sensor for this project and it would be attached in
front of the robot and multi vibrator, which is fixed at its base. Ultrasonic
sensor is moreappropriate for obstacle detection because of its high ranging
capability. The Ultrasonic sensor is made up of two parts which are the emitter
and the detector. The emitter which produces 40KHz sound wave and detector
which detects 40KHz sound wave and emits frequency signals, when obstacle is
detected this signals are reflected back which is considered as input to the
microcontroller. The microcontroller controls in different direction either
left, right or front based on the signal received from the ultrasonic sensor.
The study is to design a robotic car that will move
in accordance to the code programmed on it, it would move in a straight
direction and if it senses any obstacle in its way it would check for a free
space and avoid the obstacle.The obstacle avoidance robot would be useful in
the various places like the industrial area where less supervision is need and
prevent the risk of human been getting hurt in the process of working.
1.2
Problem Statement
In the past, the rate of accidents on a typical
Nigeria road has increased as many year passes by and it is still rising. The
major cause of these accident cases is as a result of lack of awareness of obstacles(bumps),
whether it is a coming vehicle or a pedestrian or even a domestic animal on the
road and in some cases brake failure.
The study is an attempt towards developing a robotic
car that would be able to detect and avoid obstacle(bumps) in the robot’s path
using a sensor to achieve the target point in an optimized manner. With the use
of an obstacle avoidance technology in the car, it will automatically alert the
driver (or even the car itself) of the obstacle ahead with a possible means of
avoiding the obstacle depending on the advancement of the technology, thus,
effectively reducing the rate of mortality on the road.
When the robot gets to an environment that it is not
use to, it will stop scan through it environment, thereby processed it to
recognize any obstacle. With the use of state of art of necessary equipment,
the robot can avoid obstacle and finds a secured path thereby causing reduction
in accidents and non-avoidance of obstacles. Once the robotic car performs a
task, it will store the task which will then make it perform better when
another task is given which would be based on the updated percept (a
combination on the current percept with the information that exist in it
knowledge base with an internal state).
1.2 Aim and Objective of
the Study
The aim of this project is to design an obstacle
avoidance robotic car with enough effective means to be implemented in the
modern model vehicles of today.
The specific objectives of this
project are:
1. To
evaluate literature related to the fields of engineering, mechatronics, and
software development in the design, construction, and programming of an
autonomous robot.
2. To
design a robotic car capable of obstacle detection in a controlled environment.
3. To
interface the robot with a real-time system that will enables it perform
assigned tasks.
4. To
achieve optimal performance from the robot and distinct quality in contrast to
other obstacle avoidance robot’s known
1.3
Methodology
1. To
evaluate literature related to the fields of engineering, mechatronics, and
software development in the course of designing, construction, and programming
andautonomous robot.A lot of related works have been made on the study of
engineering,mechatronics and software development in the designing of a robotic
car. With exposure to similar studies about obstacle avoidance, different areas
of computer science have been discussed, from software development to the
assembling of various components required to accomplish the project work using
a well-structured circuit design. We were able tohave a good knowledge and idea
of the study and develop a suitable methodology for the project.
2. To
achieve the objective of detecting obstacles in an environment the following
has to be ensured;
a) Obstacle
Sensing Unit: consists primarily of the ultrasonic sensor using HR-SC04 Model.
b) Angle
Scanning Unit: consists of the servomotor with a hanger connected to the
sensor. It is a rotary motor that provides linear and angular positioning of
the sensor.
3. For
the robot to perform task using the real time system the following are
required:
a) Comparator
Unit: operates by comparing the sensor voltage with a reference voltage where
the output voltage is sent to the microcontroller which is the decision making
device for the robot.
b) Signal
Processing Unit: is made of the microcontroller that is pre-installed with a
function software which aids with the decision making of the robot. Using the
PIC16F84A microcontroller equipped with a flash memory for quick signal
response and 68byte RAM of user storage space.
c) Motor
Drive Unit: from the signal sent from the microcontroller the motor drivers act
out the decisions made, to turn left or right, to go slow or fast.
d) And
lastly a Power Supply Unit is needed to power the whole system with 9v power
supply.
4. To
achieve optimal performance from the robot and distinct quality in contrast to
other obstacle avoidance robot’s known.
Our project work has
been done by so many other people across the world using different ways and
approaches to develop an autonomous robotic car. We were able to distinct our
own robotic car from the previous work done by the other researcher by
designing an autonomous robotic car with a free wheel in front of it, that
controls the other two wheels behind it.The robot has the ability to move in a
straight part by scanning both left and right and choose the direction that is
free for its to move and if both sides are blocked its reverse back and stop
for another scan for a free space.
1.4
Significance
of Study
Obstacle avoidance is
very useful in real life. The robotic car is to detect an obstacle that comes its way.
Obstacles include chairs, desks, bottles, walls e.tc and correspondingly
changes its direction to avoid any collisions according to the pre-existed
programme on the microcontroller that can only be performed when it receives a
signal from the environment through the sensor mounted in front of the robotic
car as the name implies obstacle avoidance robotic car. This robot will be able
to produce the basic performance with the use of the code programmed on it so
as to sense the obstacle thendecode the information coming from the sensor and
then perform the right task either by moving forward or scanning through its
environment for an obstacle in its way. When the entire system is combined
together, the car will achieve a great functionality of avoidance.
1.5
Scope
of Study
This research is centred around designing an
autonomous obstacle avoidance robot that would be able to sense any obstacle in
its paths, with the use of the ultrasonic sensor and then make 90˚or 180 ˚turn
to look for a free space to avoid the obstacle and resume its normal direction
which is control by the microcontroller. The research work would be limited to
obstacle avoidance using robotics.
1.6
Organization
of other Chapters
This project is made up of five chapters as
introduced below:
Chapter
One: Includes the Introduction, Problem
statement, Aims and objectives of the system, Methodology, Significance of
study, Scope of study, and Expected outcome.
Chapter
Two: Includes the Literature review: To
review some of related works already done in this regard.
Chapter
Three: Contain the Design and Analysis likewise
the component to be used for the project.
Chapter
Four: Contains the circuit design, Model
Algorithm codes, Testing and implementation of the design.
Chapter
Five: Contains the summary, conclusion,
recommendation, limitation and suggestions for future study.
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