Project
| # | Title | Team Members | TA | Documents | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 84 | AutoServe (Automated Room Service Bot) |
Ethan Jiang Johan Martinez Nikhil Vishnoi |
Po-Jen Ko | design_document1.pdf proposal1.pdf |
|
| **AutoServe (Automated Room Service Bot)** **Team Members:** - Nikhil Vishnoi (nikhilv4) - Ethan Jiang (ethanj4) - Johan Martinez (jmart454) **Problem** In hotels, apartments, and dormitories, guests or residents often request small amenities such as snacks, toiletries, chargers and more. Fulfilling these requests often requires manual labor, such as a staff member traveling long distances across hallways and between floors which is time-consuming, inefficient, and labor intensive. While some automated delivery robots exist, commercial solutions are extremely expensive, and often impractical for smaller deployments or retrofitting existing buildings. There is a need for an affordable yet flexible indoor delivery system capable of autonomously transporting small items within multi floor buildings while operating within existing infrastructure constraints. **Solution** We propose a small autonomous indoor delivery robot capable of transporting items between locations in a multi-floor building such as a hotel. The robot will navigate hallways autonomously and use an elevator to travel between floors, allowing it to deliver items from a central base location such as the hotel lobby snack bar to a specified destination room. The robot will move autonomously and be monitored wirelessly by staff through a remote UI that can display status updates on deliveries, or when the robot is ready in the elevator to be transported by hotel staff calling the elevator from the lobby. Elevator actuation is assumed to be externally triggered by the building as is most common in real hotels, while the robot will autonomously handle entering, riding, and exiting the elevator at the correct floor with sensor detection. This design choice reflects realistic constraints of existing building logistics while allowing the project to focus on autonomous navigation, system integration, and practicality. An ESP32-based controller located on the central unit and the navigation unit will coordinate wireless connection between each other with the integrated Wi-Fi module. We would also incorporate graphed routes that are optimized for avoiding obstacles, with a proximity sensor to detect obstacles such as people and send the appropriate warnings. Items will be transported in a box with a rfid lock that can only be opened by residents such as with a hotel keycard or something of similar nature. This system would reduce staff workload, improve response time for guests, and demonstrate how embedded robotic platforms can be useful to automate common but repetitive manual logistics tasks. **Subsystem 1: Microcontroller Unit** - Two ESP microcontrollers will be used, one for the Central Base Unit and one for the actual Robot Navigation Unit. - Both microcontrollers will communicate with each other using their integrated Wifi connection modules with transmitters and receivers. **Subsystem 2: Robot Base Unit** - Will have USB keyboard input (DS_FT312D) and Display to allow user input commands to robot - Display (NHD-0216KZW-AB5) will show a UI for user to see robot status (charge, where it thinks it is, connection) **Subsystem 3: Robot Unit** - 2 Stepper motors (17ME15-1504S) to accurately move robot with predetermined distances. - Will be 3D printed or machined with the machine shop - Motors will be driven using motor driver (A4988SETTR-T) with MCU - Display (NHD-0216KZW-AB5) for robot unit to communicate with nearby people **Subsystem 4: Navigation and Sensing** - Position Tracking sensor (TLV493DA1B6HTSA2) to track x,y,z motion data of robot. Actual map data and floor data will be hardcoded into the robot; this data will be used to make sure that stepper motors are moving correctly. - Proximity sensors (TSSP40) for MCU to tell when it is being blocked by an obstacle and if it is boxed in it will communicate with the Base Unit for help. **Subsystem 5: Robot Charging Station** - The robot will have battery charge detection and will be able to inform the central base Unit when it is low on power. - When delivery is completed and robot is done working it will dock into a base charging station that will flow a reverse current into the Lithium Ion batteries using a charge management controller (MCP73811). **Subsystem 6: Security Subsystem** - RFID based lock system for storing delivered items that opens for residents (Either from base station or with smart lock) **Criteria for Success** - The central base station can send commands to the navigational robot unit which is able to use predefined data to go to programmed/stored locations accurately. - The navigational unit is able to identify its location, calculate the route to its next destination, and then move precisely towards it and stop correctly. - Robot unit can avoid obstacles and send back status messages to the central base station indicators. - The robot unit can operate through the elevator and can tell when it is at the right floor and when to exit. |
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