IoT Utility Robot

Overview

The problem presented was the design of both an autonomous lawn mower and an autonomous snowblower. The lawn mower was to be designed first and then the snowblower afterwards which would also be the focus for implementation. Autonomous utility robots would be able to save many people time and money and this is why there is a demand for them in the market.

Objectives

The objective of this project was to focus on the design of the systems and communications for the autonomous robots. As our specialty is computer and electrical design, we did not see it fit for us to be the ones to design the mechanics. It was also desired to start on implementing these systems.

Approach

• Research current market for autonomous outdoor care solutions. 
• Compare various current solutions’ features in proportion to cost.
• Investigate safety standards pertaining to autonomous outdoor equipment. 
• Design various systems based on differing non-autonomous mowers and snow blowers.
• Presented system designs to sponsor for input and feedback 
• Redesign based on input and feedback from sponsor
• Pivote to focus on software and control hardware implementation
• Implement remote control and wireless communication from a cell phone application
• Design motor control circuits to operate based on cell phone operation GUI

Outcomes

• Cell phone GUI with 6 buttons, 2 text fields, and an image view (not shown in image)
• Communication completed through 3 sockets
• GPS module read from serial pin on Raspberry Pi and displayed on phone
• Phone application and Raspberry Pi program both ran through multiple
• Camera image moved through a socket and displayed on phone by converting to a string, sending into a socket, then having the string converted to bytes and into a bitmap