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A Cost Effective GPS Guided Autonomous Object Transporter Robot for Disaster
Management and Industrial Automation

Conference Paper · December 2017


DOI: 10.1109/TENCON.2017.8228307

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Proc. of the 2017 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON), Malaysia, November 5-8, 2017

A Cost Effective GPS Guided Autonomous


Object Transporter Robot for Disaster Management
and Industrial Automation
Md. Abdullah-Al-Kaiser1 , Dip Joti Paul1 , Asir Intisar Khan, Celia Shahnaz, Shaikh Anowarul Fattah*
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka-1205
*e-mail: fattah@eee.buet.ac.bd
1
These authors contributed equally to this work

Abstract—This paper presents the design methodology and be used in industrial automation and as a helping hand for
implementation of a low cost autonomous robot prototype that physically challenged people in their everyday life.
can reach prescribed destination using Global Positioning System Hence, in this context, we have designed and implemented
(GPS). By calculating the heading angle from the current GPS
co-ordinate, the robot can adjust its direction using a digital an autonomous object transporter robot which can operate
compass reading. Our designed autonomous robot can carry independently using GPS data and carry any object with it.
and transport small objects perfectly to the target destination Our designed prototype can deliver small objects successfully
and after fulfilling its task the robot can return independently and automatically return to its starting point. GPS receiver
to its starting location. The functionality and accuracy of this module is used to capture the GPS signal by locking with
GPS guided transporter robot are tested in different locations
and accuracy rate is measured in terms of heading angle and satellites. However, limitations in satellite signal reception
average distance deviation from the target. Our robotic module limit the use of GPS systems for navigation [8], [9]. These
can be very effective as a surveillance robot in the management limitations can be overcome by utilizing differential GPS but
of a disaster such as earthquake. Apart from its scope of use at an additional expense [10]. A digital compass continuously
in industrial automation, our designed object transporter robot reads current heading angle of robot using magnetic earth pole.
can be a helping hand for the disabled people, therefore offering
them flexibility and comfort in day-to-day life. Our robot can set its moving direction using compass by taking
feedback form GPS receiver. This robot is controlled by an
Index Terms—Autonomous vehicle, GPS, digital compass, Arduino Mega 2560 micro-controller which provides PWM
NEMA string, surveillance, industrial automation. to DC motors. After moving each step, the controller checks
the error again between the actual GPS angle and heading
I. I NTRODUCTION angle. Depending on the error value, controller generates
In recent times, proper and efficient disaster management PWM signal. Thus it repeats the process again and again until
system and rescue operation in the event of a disaster have it arrives the destination. Using sonar sensor, it can detect an
been a matter of concern throughout the world, especially obstacle coming in front of it. By sensing obstacle, our robot
for developing countries like Bangladesh [1]. Disasters like can change its direction to avoid it. Additional features include
massive earthquakes, fire incidents and collapse of large build- live video feedback with a camera mounted on the robotic
ings due to poor infrastructures can endanger thousands of structure and auto-saving of the captured data or images via
lives [2], [3]. Moreover, during these disasters or accidents, an attached memory card. The functionality and accuracy of
rescuers face serious obstacles to reach the affected areas, this GPS guided robot have been tested in different locations.
locate the exact position of the victims as well as provide them Our robotic system shows reasonably good accuracy in terms
with instant reliefs such as dry food, water and medicines. of heading angle and a small average deviation from the target
Therefore, a robotic surveillance and rescue systems can be co-ordinates. Our designed autonomous path-traversing robot
very effective. In this context, various sub-systems guided with its multidimensional features and application prospects
by different fabrication techniques and algorithm approaches can ensure safety, flexibility and accuracy in performing sen-
have been proposed in the literature [4], [5]. On the other sitive and risky tasks in multiple aspects of day-to-day life.
hand, precise controlling of operations in sensitive areas like The paper is organized as follows: In Section II, construc-
nuclear reactors, research centers, chemical industries and tion and interfacing of different components are illustrated.
mines where radioactivity is dominant can impose safety threat Both the structural construction and software interfacing are
and challenges to human being. An autonomous robotic system elaborated in details in this section. The working principle and
based on GPS, which can navigate independently and perform flowchart are described in Section III. In Section IV, some
variety of tasks like object transport, data collection can be test results are shown and the causes of discrepancies in the
handy in this case as well [6], [7]. At the same time, it can results are discussed. Some practical applications and further

978-1-5090-1134-6/17/$31.00 ©2017 IEEE 2637


Proc. of the 2017 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON), Malaysia, November 5-8, 2017

TABLE I: Rating of the components used in our design


improvement of our robot are discussed in Section V.
Components Rating
II. P ROPOSED D ESIGN AND I MPLEMENTATION Battery 2×3.75 = 7.5 V, 4200 mAh
Arduino Mega 2560 5V
A. Hardware Development Ublox NEO 6M GPS module 5 V, 40 mA
1) Power Supply: There are two batteries connected in Grove Digital Compass 5 V, 640 µA
series for powering up the full circuit of the rover. Each battery 1× Sonar Sensor (HC-SR04) 5 V, 15 mA, 40 Hz
1× L293D 5V
is rated as 3.75 V, 4200 mAh. For a regulated output voltage, a 2× DC Gear Motor 12 V, 1 A, 300 rpm
step down voltage regulator LM2576 is used that can provide 16×2 LCD 5V
an output voltage of 5 V depending on its inductance and 2× Rubber Wheel 6 cm diameter
capacitance value [11]. In fact, LM2576 can supply an output 1× Caster Ball 1 cm diameter
Plastic Board 18 cm×12 cm
current up to 3 A which is quite sufficient for the functionality
of Arduino, GPS, digital compass, sonar sensor, L293D and
other electric components mounted on PCB. A capacitor (1000
µF, 25 V) is connected with the output of the voltage regulator 1, 09, 0.9, 530.4, M, 46.9, M, , ∗47
for generating smooth DC output voltage.
2) GPS Module: The Global Positioning System (GPS) is This NEMA string means that the data is taken at 12:05:22
a space-based navigation system that can provide us latitude, UTC, latitude is 23◦ 72.4860 N, longitude is 90◦ 39.1490 E, GPS
longitude, altitude, date, timing information, speed and many fix (SPS), Number of satellites being tracked is 9, horizontal
more data. The Grove Ublox NEO 6M GPS module [12] is a dilution of position is 0.9 and altitude is 530.4 meters above
low cost serial communication configuration device which is from the mean sea level and the check-sum is *47.
used in our robot. For GPS data extracting, we have used TinyGPS++ header
3) Digital Compass: We have used a 3-axis Grove digital file in Arduino [15]. Using a baud rate of 9600 and Serial
compass [13] which has a low field magnetic sensing multi- Port3 of Arduino, we have extracted latitude and longitude
chip HMC5883L. It provides heading accuracy up to 1◦ to information from the NEMA string, latitude and longitude
2◦ . We have connected the digital compass with the SDA and values are then converted into decimal value to calculate the
SCL pin of the Arduino Mega. actual heading angle of the robot. After locking the GPS
4) Sonar Sensor: Ultrasonic sonar sensor (HC-SR04) is module with satellites, data is obtained in one second interval.
used to detect any obstacle in front of the robot. It emits 2) Digital Compass Interfacing: The digital compass is
sound wave by its transmitter and receives eco-signal if there used for heading angle calculation. We have measured angle
is any object in front of it. By calculating the time between with the North pole and compared it with our target angle.
transmitting and receiving signal, it can measure the distance Digital compass uses I2C communication protocol. For I2C
of the obstacle away from it. communication, we have used 'wire.h' header file of Arduino.
5) L293D: We have used only P-controller for driving our We have used continuous measurement mode of the compass
motor. Main battery supply of 7.5 V paralleled with a 100 µF, and read the data all the time. The 16 bit x and y axis
25 V capacitor is used to power up L293D for running the value is used in the calculation of measuring angle. The angle
DC motors. The output current is 600 mA to 1 A which is measurement formula is given below−
sufficient for the DC gear motors used in our system.
y 180
6) LCD: We have used a 16×2 LCD display for online Current angle = tan−1 × + 180◦ (1)
x π
displaying purpose. It will show the corresponding latitude
and longitude as well as the heading angle of the rover in real 3) Sonar Sensor Interfacing: We have used sonar sensor for
time. detection of obstacles and smooth operation of our surveillance
robot.
B. Software Development
1) GPS Interfacing: For receiving valid latitude and lon- C. Structural Construction
gitude data, GPS module must have to be locked with four
1) Chassis: A 10 mm thick plastic board has been used
satellites at least. But it is better to take data from more
for the structure of the rover (dimension 18 cm×12 cm).
than four satellites. Usually GPS receiver locks with 8 to 9
The plastic board is durable and lighter than metal structure.
satellites. The data set or information received by GPS receiver
Moreover, it is easy to drill and cut. On the chassis, we have
is called NEMA strings [14]. Each NEMA string starts with a
mounted Arduino board and PCB shield, sonar sensor, motors
'$' symbol. From NEMA string, there are lots of information
and caster ball.
to be extracted. For our purpose, we only need the location's
information like latitude and longitude. So we have extracted 2) Motor and Wheels: The 12 V, 300 rpm two DC gear
data form $GP GGA NEMA string. Each information in the motors are mounted on the chassis using clamp. The rubber
string is separated by commas in a single line, for example wheels are screwed with the motors. A caster ball is attached
with the chassis under the rover that is flexible in moving any
$GP GGA, 120522, 2372.486, N, 09039.149, E, direction.

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Proc. of the 2017 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON), Malaysia, November 5-8, 2017

Fig. 1: Working flowchart of the GPS guided transporter robot.

3) Stand: We have used a high stand on the surface of the continuously loop through this set of instructions until the
robot. The stand is used for holding the digital compass. Since desired point is reached. After every 3 seconds, the rover
digital compass uses magnetic sensors, it is recommended to checks for the next GPS coordinates and reevaluates its target
place the compass far from all other magnetic inductions, e.g. angular position. The working principle is described below−
magnetic induction from the DC motors. • At first GPS module reads the current location. Then we
calculate the target angle according to the target location
D. Component Rating
by this algorithm−
For the purpose of our autonomous transporter robot to dlon = radians(target longitude − current longitude);
be electrically safe, a standard voltage and current rating lat1 = radians(current latitude);
was maintained for power supplies and tracking modules. lat2 = radians(target latitude);
Components used in our robot and their rating are shown in x = sin(dlon)×cos(lat2);
Table I. y = cos(lat1)×sin(lat2) − sin(lat1)×cos(lat2)×cos(dlon);
III. W ORKING A LGORITHM target angle = atan2(x,y)×(180/π);
if (target angle < 0)
The algorithm begins with finding the direction required target angle += 360◦
for the rover to move. This can be done by continuously • The compass also reads the current heading angle of the
calculating current angle of the rover from digital compass rover. Then it calculates the error angle between target
reading and target angle from the two sets (current and and current heading angle.
destination location) of GPS coordinate. Since GPS data needs • From P-controller, two motors will get pulse according
some time to become stable, the rover must wait some time to the error and will try to align to the target angular
initially to retrieve current GPS coordinate accurately. The position. Thus it will minimize the error.
destination coordinate is given initially. The coordinates are • After 3 seconds, we again calculate the current GPS
then passed to a function that calculates the target angular location and measure the target angle if there is any
position and the rover is rotated accordingly. The rover must disturbance occurred during the path.
• Then again by reading the compass angle, the rover will
align to the target direction.
• Sonar sensor emits burst signal after 2 seconds interval
to find the existence of any obstacle.
• Each time GPS module reads the current location and
calculates the difference with the target location. If the
difference is below a threshold value, we stop the motor
pulse as the rover has reached its destination approxi-
mately.

IV. T ESTS AND R ESULTS


The assumptions of the ideal testing condition for the robot
is that the track will be smooth and the GPS module will
constantly provide accurate information. But during testing,
these factors however came into play and caused some minor
variations in the results. Some actual heading angles and the
Fig. 2: GPS guided object transporter robot. heading angles after motor drive are given in Table II. The

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Proc. of the 2017 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON), Malaysia, November 5-8, 2017

TABLE II: Actual and current heading angle

Actual angle Current angle Accuracy


272.34◦ 266.96◦ 98.02%
89.32◦ 85.94◦ 96.22%
290.11◦ 285.14◦ 98.29%
210.32◦ 216.66◦ 97.00%
307.25◦ 298.96◦ 97.30%
134.23◦ 128.55◦ 95.77%
45.78◦ 48.00◦ 95.15%
348.91◦ 354.19◦ 98.49%

errors between these angles were higher if there was no P-


controller. By implementing P-controller, PWM motor drive
gives more accurate heading angle. We measured eight random
samples and found the accuracy within ∼95% to ∼98.5%.
Sometimes the small caster ball in the back can get lodged in
a crack in the surface of the track, thus altering the direction Fig. 4: Accuracy rate of heading angle movement.
of movement. But our controller detects the heading angle
after 1 second interval. So, if the robot moves in different
direction from its actual path, the algorithm of P-controller 3 feet. So the robot can not reach to the exact destination
takes the robot in the right course smoothly. Moreover, the point since the motor stops when it enters into the circle of
robot can change its course by itself by sensing obstacles. the destination coordinate. The average deviation of reaching
After passing static obstacle, it then goes independently in the target and returning back to start co-ordinate for five sample
right track. But for moving obstacle, it stops for a while to tests is given in Table III. During returning back to its initial
pass the obstacle and then starts toward its right course. Using starting co-ordinate, it does not follow the previous route. By
sensitive digital compass, our robot deviates very little from its taking compass reading after one second interval, it always
path due to mechanical and surface constraints. The deviation updates its course and returns back to the starting point. So,
from heading angle and accuracy rate for some random tests the deviation for reaching target location and returning start
is illustrated in Fig. 3 and Fig. 4. location are not same all the time. But their average deviation
GPS data sometimes fluctuates randomly within a fixed remains below 2 feet. The starting location returning and target
location. As our robot takes decision based on the data location arriving deviation with average deviation are shown
from GPS module, so it goes to wrong direction sometimes. in Fig. 5.
But since it takes data after fixed interval, it can go back V. H UMANITARIAN I MPACT
to its destination by balancing data with digital compass.
GPS coordinate remains same within a circle of radius of This prototype can be used as a helping hand of physically
disabled people in carrying objects in certain location. More-
over, it can be very effective in disaster management due to
its precision and accuracy in path traversing. In the event of
disaster such as earthquake, our autonomous robot can be sent
to remote places or location inaccessible location for human
in order to take video footage and carry out investigation.
Thus any presence of affected people in disastrous areas can
be detected. Moreover, our system can offer safe and precise

TABLE III: Average deviation between starting and target co-


ordinate
Test No. Starting Location Target Location Average Deviation
1 Latitude: 23.72486 Latitude: 23.72490 18 inch
Longitude: 90.39332 Longitude: 90.39333
2 Latitude: 23.72524 Latitude: 23.72519 19 inch
Longitude: 90.39250 Longitude: 90.39252
3 Latitude: 23.72672 Latitude: 23.72674 20 inch
Longitude: 90.38805 Longitude: 90.38800
4 Latitude: 23.72575 Latitude: 23.72578 9 inch
Longitude: 90.39055 Longitude: 90.39058
5 Latitude: 23.72543 Latitude: 23.72541 15 inch
Longitude: 90.39149 Longitude: 90.39146
Fig. 3: Deviation of current heading angle for different tests.

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Proc. of the 2017 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON), Malaysia, November 5-8, 2017

R EFERENCES
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floods: a historical review of events 1980-2009 and systematic literature
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[3] One year after the rana plaza tragedy where do we stand? the victims,
the sector and the value chain. [Online]. Available: www.cpd.org.bd
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M. Sarkar, and C. Shahnaz, “Bangla voice controlled robot for rescue
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[7] L. Cordesses, P. Martinet, B. Thuilot, and M. Berducat, “Gps-based
control of a land vehicle,” in Proceedings of the IAARC/IFAC/IEEE
Fig. 5: Deviation from point location for different tests. International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction,
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positioning system: Theory and applications. Aiaa, 1996, vol. 2.
controlling of operations in sensitive areas like nuclear reac- [9] Rovira-Más, Francisco and Banerjee, Ratul, “Gps data conditioning for
tors, research centers, chemical industries and mines where enhancing reliability of automated off-road vehicles,” Proceedings of
radioactivity is dominant. Severe toxic gas and chemicals can the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part D: Journal of automobile
engineering, vol. 227, no. 4, pp. 521–535, 2013.
also be detected by sensors and taking this data from our robot [10] T. Bell, “Automatic tractor guidance using carrier-phase differential
can notify people about dangerous health hazard zone. On the GPS,” Computers and electronics in agriculture, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 53–
other hand, our designed robot through its object transport 66, 2000.
[11] LM2576 Buck Converter Data-sheet. [Online]. Available: www.ti.com/
and precise movement facilities, can efficiently implement the lit/ds/symlink/lm2576.pdf
idea of industrial automation. In industry, various types of [12] Grove Ublox NEO 6M GPS module Data-sheet. [Online]. Available:
objects need to be transported from one location to another http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Grove-GPS
[13] 3-axis Grove digital compass module Data-sheet. [Online]. Available:
prescribed location precisely and efficiently. In this context, http://www.seeedstudio.com/wiki/Grove-3-Axis CompassV1.0
our proposed GPS guided robot can be integrated into the [14] X. Yuanliang, “Application of NMEA-0183 data standard in GPS
industrial automation pipeline for object transportation. technique,” Eouipment for Geo Physical Prospecting, vol. 2, p. 021,
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[15] GPS Library for Arduino. [Online]. Available: http://arduiniana.org/
VI. C ONCLUSION libraries/tinygpsplus

In summary, a low cost GPS guided autonomous transporter


robot has been designed, constructed and tested. The employed
system autonomously navigates its way through a path, set out
in GPS coordinates. By avoiding obstacle, it can successfully
deliver object to the prescribed location with an accuracy more
than 95%. This land vehicle can be a potential candidate for
transporting object independently instead of human thereby
ensuring industrial automation as well as exact controlling of
operations in sensitive research and health hazardous areas. At
the same time, this can be of great use as a surveillance robot
during emergency such as in the event of a disaster. Thus,
the versatility of our designed autonomous object transporter
robot coupled with its high degree of accuracy and precision
can guarantee safety and flexibility in performing sensitive
tasks in multiple aspects of day-to-day life.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The authors would like to thank the Dept. of EEE,
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
(BUET) for providing necessary facilities for carrying out this
work.

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