Advanced Robot Car for Automated Item Delivery (ARCAID)

The Project

ARCAID (Advanced Robot Car for Automated Item Delivery), is a fully automated device that delivers items. Its components consist of a Raspberry Pi 4, pi-camera, 2 LED strips, a Thunderborg motor controller with 2 motors, and a speaker. ARCAID can work on a predefined schedule and adapts to any indoor layout by following the path. It also has the ability to perform multi-point deliveries while providing audio alerts during each of them. Additionally, not only is ARCAID a low-cost solution, but it is capable of working for extended periods of time. The basis of ARCAID is a PID and a line following algorithm. The PID stands for Proportional, Integral, and Derivative which is an error compensation method to provide good stability while following the line. The line following algorithm uses the feed from the pi-camera to discern where the line is and a function to tell where we want the line to be so that the device is able to make up for the error in order to follow the line accordingly. We control the motor rotation by detecting the motor rotation speed and angle using encoders within the motors which enables ARCAID to work on any surface with high speed and accuracy. The LED strips ensure that ARCAID is capable of delivering items during the night as well. For further details please see this project document: https://bit.ly/37jzgXQ

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Team Comments

We had identified that there is a strong requirement for timely automated delivery of essential medical supplies and equipment within certain indoor facilities. We additionally noted that there is a lack of low-cost, versatile devices to assist people challenged with mobility.

1. The robot started oscillating and going off track. So, we tuned the PID through trial and error to ensure the robot car delivered items smoothly. 2. Voltage fluctuation caused by LED strips with one power source resulted in malfunctioning. It was resolved by maintaining 2 separate power sources.

1. Ability to adapt to complex environments. 2. Capability to run outdoors. 3. Add interactive communication through speech recognition. 4. Add a display to show the message along with a speaker. 5. Ability to carry larger items in a secure manner.