Sunday, 25 May 2014

Beagle Bone based Android Controlled Robot


OVERVIEW
1.1 Aim of the project
Primary objective:The aim of the project is to design and develop a robot, of which movementscan be controlled using the application in the android smartphone.
Secondary objective:Develop a method tocapture video signal of the surrounding environment and to display on the desired display module overWI-FI network.

1.2 Introduction
Spy Robotics is design and manufacture of intelligent machines that are programmed to perform specific tasks. Robots are generally designed to be a helping hand .they helps us in difficult, unsafe or boring tasks. Simply put, robots are machines that can be programmed to perform a variety of jobs, and they can range from simple machines to highly complex, computer- controlled system. Robotics is one of the most exciting areas of Electronics. Robotics is the field of controlling of electronic machines that can be substitute in the place of human actions. This field has become so advanced that in the near future robots can imitate human behavior.
Bridging the gap between the world of computer and that of its user has always been one of the chief goals of robotics. Graphical interface, input devices, speech generators, handwriting recognition system and face recognition system are just a few examples of how computers have become more accessible. Motion detection is a more recent thrust in this direction and represents a major step in bringing the computer into our world.
This project focuses entirely on two specific challenges, the task of video streaming and movement of the robot.Computers have become fast enough to perform computationally intensive image processing tasks and storage devices have grown to allow the accumulation of large database of images.
1.3 Problem statement and formulation
In wired controlled robot, the connection between the controller and robot is maintained using wired interfaces. These interfaces can be serial or parallel and in both these techniques, the underlying technology is transmission of the electrical signals, which are sent in form of specific patterns, and the robot to carry out the specific task analyzes these patterns. These signals sent are analyzed by a processor mounted on the robot.
       In wireless controlled robot, the connection between the controller and robot is maintained using wireless interfaces such as Wi-Fi.The underlying technology is transmission of signals wirelessly in air by the transmitter, which are captured by receiver and sent to the processor mounted on the robot to carry out the decisions.
   By using the android Smartphone, the robot is controlled through the WI-FI network and by installing camera in the same robot user can control more precisely and accurately.

1.4 Methodology
The project begins when the designed web page is accessed using android phone. The robot is controlled using the directional icon in the web page. The live video streaming of the surrounding environment is displayed on the desired display module over WI-FI network.

The control of robots includes three distinct phases

·         Perception
·         Processing
·         Intimation
·         Action

The Preceptors are the cameras mounted on the robot. The Processing is done by the Beagle Bone Board. The Intimation given via android phone to the robot. The action is performed using motors.

1.5Literature Review
‘A Wi-Fi Enabled Robot’ byMohammed Hisham, Sudhir V Prabhu, Ashwin Kumar [1]
Wi-Fi enabled Robot is a system, which controls the turtle robot using the web page. To make this feasible we make use of the HNZG1 board with a built in Micro controller and ZeroG-2100 Wi-Fi module. HNZG1 board is developed exclusively by MANIPAL DOT NET PVT. LTD comprises of ZeroG- 2100 module for wireless connectivity and inbuilt PIC24F series microcontroller from Microchip Technology Inc. Switch control mode of Robot is controlled using Joystick and can appropriately be guided to back, forth, left and right directions So in this project, we extend an interface to the Switch control mode to suit our requirements. Finally we have been able to bridge together the HNZG1 board and the Turtle Robot, and eventuallycontrol the Turtle Robot in wireless environment through the control buttons embedded on the custom Web page designed by us.

‘Towards Smarter RbotsWith Smartphones’ by Rafael V. Aroca,AntônioPéricles B. S. de Oliveira, Luiz Marcos G. Gonçalves [2]
Mobile phones are one of the top selling mobile devices in the world. Due to their large production, their prices have a high cost/benefit ratio. Current smartphones have a variety
of built-in sensors that can be explored to build robots. Using a smartphone as the "brain" of a robot is already an active research field with several open opportunities and promising possibilities. In this paper we present a review of current robots controlled by mobile phones and discuss a closed loop control mechanism that we have developed to control mechatronics systems using audio channels of mobile devices, such as phones and tablet computers. In our work, actuators commands are sent via audio and sensors reading are received by the phone also via audio using only analog electronics and no intermediate processing units

‘Using the Android Platform to controlRobots’ by Stephan G¨obel, Ruben Jubeh, Simon-LennertRaesch and Albert Z¨undorf [2]
Android devices are powerful mobile computers with permanent internet connectivity and a rich variety of built-in sensors. More properties make the Android system very applicable for university use: Android uses the Java programming language, which our students are familiar with. Getting started with the Android API is easy; the API is open, i.e. developers can access almost every low-level function and are not sandboxed. In addition, the Android API allows easy accessto the hardware components. Interesting for robotics use are the numerous communication interfaces like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GSM/UMTS, USB. Arduino boards provide open source software solutionsto control LEGO sensors and motors. In addition, Arduino boards provide connectivity for many other cheap sensors and actuators. This would lower the cost of a robot even more.



1.6 History
The First Remote Control Vehicle/Precision Guided Weapon:
This propeller-driven radio controlled robot, built by Nikola Tesla in 1898, is the original prototype of all modern day uninhabited aerial vehicles and precision guided weapons. In-fact all remotely operated vehicles in air, land or sea. Powered by a lead acid batteries and an electric drive motors, the vessel were designed to be manoeuvred alongside a target using the instruction received from a wireless remote control transmitter. Once in position, a command would be sent to detonate an explosive charge contained within the boat’s forward compartment. The weapon’s guidance system incorporated a secure communication link between the pilot’s controller and surface running torpedo in an effort to assure that control could be maintained even in the presence of electronic countermeasures.

Use of Remote Controlled Vehicles during World War 2:

During World War 2 in European Theatre the U. S Air Force experimented with three basic forms radio control guided weapons. In each case, the weapon would be directed to its target by a crew member on a control plane. The first weapon was essentially a standard bomb fitted with the steering controls. The next evolution involved the fitting of a bomb to a glider airframe, one version, the GB-4 having a TV camera to assist the controller with targeting. The third class of guided weapon was the remote controlled B-17

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
5.1 Experimental Results
5.2 Discussion
·      The initial idea which led us to the current project was that we wanted to help the military sector of our country in any way possible. That is when while browsing in YouTube we came across a video of robot control, where a robot is controlled using android phone via Bluetooth. This gave us the idea of the project Android control Robot through Wi-Fi. We also had a plan of streaming the live video signal using web cam.
·      Our next step was to find out the method by which controlling robot and streaming the video can actually be realized. First we selected microcontroller for our project. Then we came to know about the advantages of BeagleBone over the microcontroller We decided to go with the BeagleBone even though it was costlier, just for the reason that it is new and we could try something better.
·      This then led us to which processor we thought would be best suitable.
·      Hence decided upon to use BeagleBone because of its stability and performance.
·      Then we collected material and designed schematic in altium software. We then designed our own PCB using the schematics having a trace width of .01mil
·      We then had problem in connecting the DC motor for or with the DC motor driver.At first we used LM298 motor driver circuit to control 5V DC motor. At the time of hardware testing, we faced problems due to motor driver . Hence we planned to replace it by  two-way relay circuit and then tested  the for sequence of coilactivation
·      Now as for the software we initially programmed the movement of DC motor for different conditions in BeagleBone without eclipse platform.
·      There was a problem in the directional rotation of the motor. Then we switched the connections to the motor from relay circuit.
·      For the rest part of the project we installed eclipse on Ubuntu operating system.
·      We designed user interface webpage for motor control and video streaming.
·      Burning of the code into the BeagleBone and installing MJPG streamer was the toughest phase of the project.
·      Then using the Wi-Fi router we accessed BeagleBone.
·      The designated webpage was accessed and the control panel appears.
·      We found a video streaming problem over Wi-Fi and came to know that the mistake was made while entering the port address of the streamer. This problem was easily solved.
·      We tried to check the video streaming on android phone and came to know that, the android phones greater than 512MB RAM are capable of streaming.
·      The video streaming was tried by using the VLC media player on the computer.
·      We faced a problem of limited range of Wi-Fi due to which robots have limited working range. But there is no solution for this problem unless the 4G technology is implemented.
·      Apart from Wi-Fi range problem, we successfully tested our project and led to the successful implementation of the idea.
















CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION AND FUTURE ENHANCEMENT
6.3 Conclusion
The modules of controlling the robot is successfully tested and demonstrated. A smart and easy means to guide a robot is achieved using Wi-Fi. Controlling the motion of robot via Wi-Fi is one of the easiest means as it requires the user to access the designated webpage on the android phone to guide it. The live video streaming over Wi-Fi network allows the user to remotely monitor the surrounding environment. We find that this demonstration using Beagle bone, Wi-Fimodule and android smartphone provides a best approach to control the robots and to stream the video on desired display module.

6.4 Future Improvement
Password Protection
Project can be modified in order to password protect the robot so that it can be operated only if correct password is entered

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