A Motion Mechanism for Housekeeping Using Differential

Drive Robot- A Practical Approach

C.Besalieal Prince1 , D.Haripriya2 , Dr.Senthil Kumar 3 ,

1
Dept of Electronics and Instrumentation , Panimalar Engineering College .
2
Senior Lecturer ,Dept of Electronics and Instrumentation, Panimalar Engineering College .
3
Professor ,Dept of Electronics and Instrumentation , Panimalar Engineering College.

Abstract- This work deals with the robots which can be used for house keeping works
for aged or physically challenged people. This robot is a differential drive system and
has a sensor with limited field of view. We have proposed an algorithm for the tracking
of humans and planning’s to target to them. Algorithm provided solution to the
problem for catering the basic needs of aged or blind people with the help of sensors
and microcontrollers. We have designed a robot which can cater the basic needs of an
aged person for example giving water or fetching some objects for them based on their
command.

I. INTRODUCTION robot can reach them and cater them with

We have used a differential-drive
robot as a base robot with some extra
arrangements like elevation and servo
mechanism for the movement. The
differential-drive robot is the "classic"
robot base and probably the most
popular[2]. The differential-drive wheeled
mobile robots have exhibited certain
superior performance over other types of
robots. For example, they are highly
mobilisable and the wheel configuration is
relatively simple. Due to these advantages,
the robots are considered as an ideal
candidate for the jobs like delivering
goods in office environment or hospitals,
various agricultural works like mapping of
weed population, material handling,
cleaning, wheelchair for disabled,
escorting human beings and even as a tour-
guide [1] .
There are some sensors which
sense the presence of human so that the
their needs. The sensors used here are of
high sensitiveness and accuracy so as to be
perfect and to perform the task in time. We
use a AVR microcontroller by the
ATMEL which has an easy coding
procedure and an easy upgradation
facility . These sensors and
microcontrollers are economical . A fuzzy
logic approach can be used which
becomes more attractive in this work as a
controller framework in order to establish
a motion control for a difficult differential-
drive robot navigation based on odometry
readings[2].
II DIFFERENTIAL DRIVE
ROBOT
Differential drive is a method of
controlling a robot with only two
motorized wheels. What makes this
algorithm important for a robot builder is
that it is the simplest control method for a
robot.
 The term 'differential' means that
robot turning speed is determined by the
speed difference between both wheels,
each on either side of your robot. For
example: keep the left wheel still, and
rotate the right wheel forward, and the
robot will turn left.[7]

IV SENSORS
A)IR Proximity Sensor:
An IR proximity sensor works by
applying a voltage to a pair of IR light
emitting diodes (LED’s) which in turn,
emit infrared light. This light propagates
The differential drive algorithm is
through the air and once it hits an object it
useful for light chasing robots. This
is reflected back towards the sensor. If the
locomotion is the most basic of all types,
object is close, the reflected light will be
and is highly recommended . Mechanical
stronger than if the object is further away.
construction, as well as the control
The sensing unit consists of a transistor
algorithm, cannot get any simpler than
circuit or in the form of an integrated
this. Note that this algorithm doesn’t just
circuit (IC), detects the reflected infrared
work for wheeled robots, but is also the
light, and if its intensity is strong enough,
same algorithm you must use for tank
the circuit becomes active ( giving digital
tread type robots and biped robots.
HIGH). When the sensing unit becomes
Examples of differential drive robots, are
active, it sends a corresponding signal to
sumo robot, mobipulator robot, and race
the output terminal which can then be used
robot etc.
to activate any number of devices.
III ROBOT BASE
DEVELOPED IN LAB

The robot is provided with a

microcontroller ( ATMEGA 328,AVR ). It
gives the navigation algorithm for the
driving and navigation of the robot . It
contains the IR detectors , Proximity
sensors , servo motors , dc motors ,
elevator for height ,Sharp distance finder
etc.

B) Passive InfraRed sensor (PIR sensor):
A Passive InfraRed sensor is an
electronic device which measures infrared
light radiating from objects in its field of
view. Apparent motion is detected when
an infrared source with one temperature,
such as a human, passes in front of an
infrared source with another temperature,
such as a wall. All objects emit what is
known as black body radiation. This
energy is invisible to the human eye but
can be detected by electronic devices
designed for such a purpose. The term
'passive' in this instance means the PIR
does not emit energy of any type but
merely accepts incoming infrared
radiation.
Infrared radiation enters through
the front of the sensor, known as the
sensor face. At the core of a PIR is a solid
state sensor or set of sensors, made from
approximately 1/4 inches square of natural
or artificial pyroelectric materials, usually
in the form of a thin film, out of gallium
nitride (GaN), caesium nitrate (CsNO3),
polyvinyl fluorides, derivatives of
phenylpyrazine, and cobalt
phthalocyanine. The sensor is often
manufactured as part of an integrated
circuit and may consist of one (1), two (2)
or four (4) 'pixels' of equal areas of the
pyroelectric material. Pairs of the sensor
pixels may be wired as opposite inputs to a
differential amplifier. In such a
configuration, the PIR measurements
cancel each other so that the average
temperature of the field of view is
removed from the electrical signal; an
increase of IR energy across the entire
sensor is self-cancelling and will not
trigger the device. This allows the device
to resist false indications of change in the
event of being exposed to flashes of light
or field-wide illumination. (Continuous
bright light could still saturate the sensor
materials and render the sensor unable to
register further information.) At the same
time, this differential arrangement
minimizes common-mode interference;
this allows the device to resist triggering
due to nearby electric fields. However, a
differential pair of sensors cannot measure
temperature in that configuration and
therefore this configuration is specialized
for motion detectors.
C)Distance finder ( Sharp Sensor ):
Sharp detectors, are a new
approach developed that not only gives
object detection at a longer range than the
previous method, but also offers range
information. These new ranges offer much
better immunity to ambient lighting
conditions because of the new method of
ranging. These new rangers all use
triangulation and a small linear CCD array
to compute the distance and/or presence of
objects in the field of view. The basic idea
is this: a pulse of IR light is emitted by the
emitter. This light travels out in the field
of view and either hits an object or just
keeps on going. In the case of no object,
the light is never reflected and the reading
shows no object. If the light reflects off an
object, it returns to the detector and creates
a triangle between the point of reflection,
the emitter, and the detector.
Different Angles with Different Distances
The angles in this triangle vary based on
the distance to the object. The receiver
portion of these new detectors is actually a
precision lens that transmits the reflected
light onto various portions of the enclosed
linear CCD array based on the angle of the
triangle described above. The CCD array
can then determine what angle the
reflected light came back at and therefore,
it can calculate the distance to the
object. This new method of ranging is
almost immune to interference from
ambient light and offers amazing
indifference to the color of object being
detected. Detecting a black wall in full
sunlight is now possible.
V PRINCIPLES
A)Base mechanism:
The differential drive robot forms
the base . It is fixed with a microcontroller
( AVR ATMEGA) . This microcontroller
provides the necessary protocols for the
proper navigation and obstacle avoidance .
The IR proximity sensor helps in the
Obstacle avoidance by the digital signal
giving HIGH when there is obstacle
infront of the robot . The microcontroller
is programmed in such a way to tackle the
object infront and go to the target(human).
B)Human detection:
The presence of human is dectected
by the PIR sensor . Once the human is
detected the robot is programmed to set the
target as the human and move towards the
target . The metal detector detects the
place of the metal object which is placed in
the command sender , for instance a
remote with a metal . Once the metal and
the human presence is detected the
microcontroller calculates the height to
which it has to elevate by the usage of
Pythagorean theorem.
C)Pythagorean theorem:
In any right triangle, the area of the
square whose side is the hypotenuse (the
side opposite the right angle) is equal to
the sum of the areas of the squares whose
sides are the two legs (the two sides that
meet at a right angle).The theorem can be
written as an equation relating the lengths
of the sides a, b and c, often called the
Pythagorean equation,
where c represents the length of the
hypotenuse, and a and b represent the
lengths of the other two sides.
D)Navigation Strategy:
Once the human is detected using a
PIR sensor , the servo mechanism on the
top of the robot rotates to sense the metal,
by the metal detector attached to it [5,8].
The angle of rotation is sensed and
is used in the calculation of the height to
which the robot has to elevate to reach the
target. Here it uses the Pythagorean
equation or the trigonometric equations [4].
Example of the navigation Strategy
Block diagram of the robot
tracking human caller
Method I:
Here, a, is the angle ,the servo motor has
rotated to get the target.
h, is found out by the sharp sensor placed
focussing the target
By using trigonometry,Sin a = x/h
x = h * sin a
Hence x is found.
Method II:
Here we know,
d, distance from the human to the robot .
h,distance from the target to the robot
head.
By the use of Pythagorean equation we can
find the x,
x=√(h2-d2).
VI WORKING
Calling :Here the user ( human ) is given a
device like remote . The user has to press
the necessary object needed on the remote
display. For instance let it be water . This
message is sent through the IR transmitter
to the robot. It receives the message and
decodes it using the microcontroller
programming .
Sensing :Then as instructed it picks the
object and searches for the human . The
remote is provided with a metal . To
acknowledge the caller, first it has to
satisfy the PIR sensor sensing and then the
metal detector sensing which will be in the
remote . Once the caller is identified it
senses the height of the metal and the
distance of the metal . Then it calculates
the height of elevation by either of the
above said methods .
Movement:Once the height is found out it
moves towards the caller with the
elevation made in the robot. Hence the
users need is met & satisfied .
 VII CONCLUSION
This robot is developed and [5] Se-gon Roh, Hyouk Ryeol
programmed using microcontroller in the Choi ,“Differential-drive in-pipe robot for
lab. As far as our knowledge, metal based moving inside urban gas pipelines”,
detection with differential drive Robotics, IEEE Transactions on Feb.
mechanism is rarely found in research 2005.
work practically. However we have used
this technology to accurately detect the
source and cater the human need. This [6] McClamroch, N. “Singular
application can be used in near future as systems of differential equations as
assistance for aged and other human dynamicmodels for constrained robot
beings too . systems”,Robotics and Automation.
Proceedings. 1986 IEEE International
Conference.

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