RFID BASED INDOOR NAVIGATION ASSISTANCE ROBOT FOR THE

BLIND AND VISUALLY IMAPIRED

CHEONG WAI LEONG

















UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA







PSZ 19:16 (Pind. 1/07)

D DE EC CL LA AR RA AT TI IO ON N O OF F T TH HE ES SI IS S/ / U UN ND DE ER RG GR RA AD DU UA AT TE E P PR RO OJ J E EC CT T P PA AP PE ER R A AN ND D C CO OP PY YR RI IG GH HT T


Authors full name : CHEONG WAI LEONG

Date of birth : 19 JULY 1986

Title : RFID BASED INDOOR NAVIGATION ASSISTANCE ROBOT
FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED

Academic Session : 2009/2010

I declare that this thesis is classified as:

CONFIDENTIAL
(Contains confidential information under the
Official Secret Act 1972)*
RESTRICTED
(Contains restricted information as specified by
the organization where research was done) *
OPEN ACCESS
I agree that my thesis to be published as online
open access (full text)

I acknowledged that Universiti Teknologi Malaysia reserves the right as follows :
1. The thesis is the property of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia.
2. The Library of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia has the right to make copies
for the purpose of research only.
3. The Library has the right to make copies of the thesis for academic
exchange.





..
Certified by :


..
SIGNATURE


SIGNATURE OF SUPERVISOR


860719-38-5889
(NEW IC NO. PASSPORTNO.)

DR. SALINDA BUYAMIN
NAME OF SUPERVISOR

Date: 04 MAY 2010 Date: 04 MAY 2010
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

I hereby declare that I have read this thesis and in my opinion this thesis is
sufficient in terms of scope and quality for the award of the degree of Bachelor of
Electrical Engineering (Mechatronics).

Signature : __________________________
Name of Supervisor : __________________________
Date : __________________________

DR. SALINDA BUYAMIN

04 MAY 2010


RFID BASED INDOOR NAVIGATION ASSISTANCE ROBOT FOR THE BLIND
AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED








CHEONG WAI LEONG








A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the award of the degree
of Bachelor of Electrical Engineering (Mechatronics)






Faculty of Electrical Engineering
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia






MAY 2010
ii

I declare that this thesis entitled RFID Based Indoor Navigation Assistance Robot
for the Blind and Visually Impaired is the result of my own research except as cited
in the references. The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and is not
concurrently submitted in candidature of any other degree.

Signature : __________________________
Name of Author : __________________________
Date : __________________________

CHEONG WAI LEONG
04 MAY 2010
iii

Special dedicated to
My beloved family and friends

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT




I would like to take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to my
supervisor, Dr. Salinda Buyamin who had been guided me along the project. She has
been motivating and inspired me to successfully complete my project. Her guidance,
advice, encouragement, patient and support given throughout the project are greatly
appreciated.

Sincere thanks also to my lecturers who had given me valuable suggestions
and helpful discussions to ensure successfulness of the project.

My appreciations also extend to my parents and friends for their caring and
support. Last but not least, I am thankful for those who directly or indirectly lent me
a hand in this project.




v

ABSTRACT




Blind and visually impaired is a group of people who lose their eye sight.
Consequently, there is a significant impact on their mobility directly. This paper
proposed an efficient algorithm for mobile robot to navigate in indoor environment
by using RFID system. Service robot with using this algorithm is able to aid this
group of people in their indoor navigation. There is one RFID reader installed at the
bottom chassis of the mobile robot to sense for passive RFID tag embedded under
carpet on the floor. Each tag will retrieve a unique identification number when
interrogated by appropriate frequency. By using the identification number, a
database for coordinate positions of each tag on the map is established. Therefore,
the position of the robot can be known in certainty in such environment. Besides,
orientation and direction to reach goal location can be obtained by using three
coordinate positions and trigonometry functions. The algorithm presents in this
paper categorized different movements into four categories so that direction and
turning angle can be obtained accurately. As a result, the robot is able to navigate to
goal location with smooth and shorter path. Another advantage, obstacle avoidance
is integrated into the navigation algorithm so that the robot can be implemented in a
dynamic environment. In addition to that, a stick with rotary base and elastic rubber
holder is built. Therefore, movements of user will leads to small impact on the robot
while navigating. Furthermore, different destination can be chosen by user through
the keypad attached. Sound indication is used to notify user on any dangerous
encountered by the robot along the path.

vi

ABSTRAK




Buta merupakan kejadian seseorang yang kehilangan penglihatan selama-
lamanya. Oleh sebab ini, pergerakan seseorang akan menjadi sukar. Dengan
berpandukan sistem RFID dan fungsi-fungsi trigonometri, robot khidmat dapat
bergerak secara efektif di dalam bangunan. Robot khidmat yang menggunakan cara
ini dapat membantu golongan buta untuk bergerak secara bebas di dalam bangunan.
Satu pembaca RFID akan dipasangkan di bahagian bawah robot untuk membaca tag-
tag RFID yang telah disusun di bawah permaidani. Setiap tag akan menghantar satu
set nombor yang unik kepada pembaca apabila terdedah kepada frekuensi yang
bersesuaian. Dengan menggunakan nombor-nombor unik ini, satu tapak data yang
menyimpan koordinat-koordinat bagi semua tag boleh disediakan. Jadi, kedudukan
dan juga orientasi robot dapat dihitungkan dengan meggunakan tiga koordinat dan
fungsi-fungsi trigonometri. Cara yang disampaikan akan mengasingkan pelbagai
pergerakan oleh robot kepada empat kumpulan. Dalam setiap kumpulan, terdapat
pengiraan sudut pusingan dan juga cara pemutusan arah yang tersendiri. Oleh sebab
itu, robot dapat bergerak secara lancar ke destinasi. Selain daripada itu, ciri
pengelakan halangan yang ditambah kepada robot menyebabkan robot khidmat ini
dapat digunakan dalam situasi dinamik. Satu tongkat yang boleh berputar di hujung
dipasang kepada robot ini. Di samping itu, pengguna boleh memegang pemegang
yang diperbuat daripada getah yang elastik. Dengan ini, pergerakan pengguna tidak
akan memberi impak yang besar kepada robot semasa bergerak. Pengguna boleh
menggunakan papan kunci yang tersedia untuk memilih lokasi yang ingin disampai.
Semasa bergerak, pelbagai bunyi akan dikeluarkan oleh robot untuk memberitahu
keadaan persekitaran kepada pengguna.

vii


TABLE OF CONTENTS




CHAPTER TITLE

PAGE
AUTHORS DECLARATION ii
DEDICATION iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv
ABSTRACT v
ABSTRAK vi
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF TABLES
vii
ix
LIST OF FIGURES x
LIST OF SYMBOL AND ABBREVIATIONS xiii
LIST OF APPENDICES xiv

1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study 1
1.2 Statement of Problem 3
1.3 Research Objectives 5
1.4 Significance of Study 5
1.5 Scope of Study 5

2 LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 The Guide Cane 6
2.2 RoboCart 7
2.3 Walking Guide Robot 9
2.4 Guide Dog 10
2.5 UBIRO 11
viii

3 METHODOLOGY
3.1 Mechanical Design 13
3.2 Circuit Design and Equipments 16
3.2.1 System Overview 16
3.2.2 Indoor Navigation
3.2.3 Obstacles Avoidance
18
22
3.2.4 User Interfacing 22
3.3 Software Design 23
3.3.1 Determination of Quadrant of
Movement

25
3.3.2 Determination of Angle for Previous
Position to Current Position and
Current Position to Goal Position
3.3.3 Categorization


27
28
3.3.4 Special Case 29
3.3.5 Interrupt Routine for Tag Detected 31

4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION
4.1 Keypad and Robot Control 33
4.2 Obstacle and Sensor response 34
4.3 Experiments for Navigation 38
4.4 Results on Navigation 40
4.5 Summary of Experiment 45

5 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Conclusions 47
5.2 Limitations and Future Recommendations 48

REFERENCES 49

APPENDICES 51
ix

LIST OF TABLES




TABLE NO. TITLE


PAGE
3.1 Summary of categorization 28
4.1 Response of middle sensor with respect to
distance of obstacle

35
4.2 Response of right sensor with respect to
distance of obstacle

36
4.3 Response of left sensor with respect to
distance of obstacle

37
4.4 Response of buzzer 38
x

LIST OF FIGURES




FIGURE NO. TITLE


PAGE
2.1 The Guide Cane 7
2.2 RoboCart 8
2.3 Placement of RFID tags for RoboCart
localization

9
2.4 Prototype of Walking Guide robot 9
2.5 Tactile displays for the Walking Guide Robot 10
2.6 The Guide Dog 11
2.7 UBIRO 12
3.1 Mechanical design (overview) 13
3.2 Top view and dimensions 14
3.3 Front view and dimensions 14
3.4 Side view and dimensions 15
3.5 Stick with rotary base, rubber holder and
adjustable length

15
3.6 Overview of system 16
3.7 Power supply circuit 17
3.8 PIC18F452 circuit connections 18
xi

3.9 RFID technology 19
3.10 RFID reader and passive tags 20
3.11 Signal conditioning circuit for RFID reader 20
3.12 Stepper motor 21
3.13 Motor part 21
3.14 Analog Infrared sensors 22
3.15 Keypad and buzzers for user interfacing 23
3.16 Navigation Algorithm 24
3.17 Quadrant Distribution 25
3.18 Determination of quadrant 26
3.19 Angle calculation 27
3.20 Type 3 movement 30
3.21 Type 4 movement 30
3.22 Interrupt flow chart 31
4.1 Voltage response of middle sensor against
distance of obstacle

35
4.2 Voltage response of right sensor against
distance of obstacle

36
4.3 Voltage response of left sensor against distance
of obstacle

37
4.4 Low resolution map with 40 RFID tags used 39
4.5 High resolution map with 60 RFID tags used 40
4.6 Result for case 1 (low resolution map) 41
4.7 Result for case 1 (high resolution map) 41
4.8 Result for case 2 (low resolution map) 42
4.9 Result for case 2 (high resolution map) 42
xii

4.10 Result for case 3 (low resolution map) 43
4.11 Result for case 3 (high resolution map) 43
4.12 Result for case 4 (low resolution map) 44
4.13 Result for case 4 (high resolution map) 45
xiii

LIST OF SYMBOL AND ABBREVIATIONS

WHO - World Health Organization

ETA - Electronics Travel Aids
GPS - Global Positioning System
IR - Infrared
RFID - Radio frequency identification
MCL - Monte Carlo Markov localization
TOF - Time of Flight
ITD - Inter-aural Time Difference
DC - Direct current
PDA - Personal digital assistant
PC - Personal computer
PE - Poly ethane
PCB - Printed circuit board
UART - Universal asynchronous receive transmit
LED - Light emitting diode
EMF - Electro motive force
ADC - Analog to digital converter
GUI - Graphic user interface
Q
P
- Quadrant of the previous movement
Q
N
- Quadrant of the next movement
- Resistance (ohm)
V - Volt
m - Meter
cm - Centimeter
mm - Milimeter
Hz - Frequency (Hertz)
xiv

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX NO. TITLE

PAGE
A Schematic drawing of main board 51
B Schematic drawing of motor 52
C Source code 53




CHAPTER 1




INTRODUCTION




1.1 Background of study


According to the statistic data from World Health Organization (WHO), there
are 314 million people are visually impaired worldwide reported on year 2009 and 45
million of them are blind. Most people with visual impaired are older. Besides,
females are more at risk at every age in every part of the world. From the findings
by WHO, it was found that 87% of the worlds visually impaired live in developing
countries. In Malaysia, there were total of 13,743 reported as visually impaired on
year 2000. In order to lend a hand on this group of people, Malaysian Association
for Blind has been established in year 1951 by Department of Social Welfare. This
organization provides services that help the blind and prevent the tragedy of
avoidable blindness. They held a lot of activities such as educational programs,
rehabilitation courses and etc.


Guiding tools were built from centuries ago to help the blind. Apparently,
blind men use sticks and animals to guide themselves from the beginning. Start from
the past three decades, advance technology was use to develop more convenient and
reliable tools which called electronics travel aids (ETAs)[1]. ETAs that developed
were such as SonicGuide, Sonic Pathfinder, Mowat sensor, Nav Belt, Guide Cane[2]
and etc.[3]

2

ETA is a form of assistive technology with the purpose of enhancing the
mobility of the blind or visually impaired. In order to accomplish this task, ETA
usually built from all types of different electronics circuits and mechanical
components. Besides, ETA would be able to spatially sense the environment at a
reasonable distance and display this information in easily understood format such as
hearing or touching to the user. Many types of sensors are mounted on the ETA to
sense the environment such as ultrasonic sensors, vision system and magnetic
compass for spatial sensing and direction finding purpose.


Since the blind or visually impaired person sensory system are limited to the
sense of smelling, hearing and touching for navigation purpose, therefore, ETA must
be able to convert the information of surrounding into those kinds of signals to
acknowledge them of their whereabouts. The most commonly used indication
systems are sound and skin stimulation. Sound has the following attributes to be the
indication system:

Intensity of sound
Frequency of sound
Direction of sound


Meanwhile, the stimulus of the skin can have the following attributes to act as
the indication system:

Intensity of vibration
Frequency of vibration
Location of vibration


With the aid of the indication system, ETA can also communicate with the
users about the environment conditions.


In order to make the mobile robot to be able to localize and estimate its
orientation in outdoor environment, Global Positioning System (GPS) is the most
3

suitable method[4]. However, this method is not applicable in indoor environment
[5]. One common localization algorithm used in indoor environment is dead
reckoning but this method having its limitation since it will accumulate the error in
its location estimation [6, 7]. Other approaches are adding external sensor such as
laser range finder, camera and etc. for accurate localization [8, 9]. In some
researches, ultrasonic sensor, infrared (IR) system, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and etc. are
used for indoor localization. However, they have their shortcomings and
limitation[5]. For such, infrared system will be influenced by light, Bluetooth will be
cost non-effective if employ in large scale environment [5]. Hence, Radio Frequency
Identification (RFID) system turns out to be the suitable method for indoor
localization and orientation estimation [6-11].


RFID is a wireless recognition system that able to retrieve data store in a tag
in high speed when appropriate frequency is provided by the antenna. RFID system
has been applied into robot technology. If this technology is implemented properly
into service robot, this kind of robot can service human at any time and any where
[6]. Therefore, RFID system has been utilized for robot positioning [6-9, 11]. The
RFID tags are arrange in a particular pattern in the environment to provide absolute
position information. The benefit to use RFID tag is the tag will not affected by the
condition of the environment in terms of dirt, vibration and it is cheap to buy in bulk
quantities [5]. Therefore, it is suitable to be used in a large scale indoor environment.
Moreover, passive RFID tag used does need no power supply thus, maintenance fee
can be reduced. Other than that, RFID reader and tag is contactless while
transmitting data. Hence, RFID tag can be installed under carpet so people will not
notice its existence in the environment.




1.2 Statement of Problem


Visually impaired or blind persons will face a lot of inconvenience in their
daily life as they lost one of the most important sensors to interact with the world
which is sight. Therefore, some simple daily task such as pick up a phone, go to the
4

toilet which can be performed easily by ordinary human will become difficulties for
them. One of the most important features for living things is the mobility. The
mobility is defined as independently to travel from a start point to a destination. This
simple definition actually consists of a lot of complicated task as mobility needs a
person who is able to avoid obstacles while moving aimlessly through the space.
Besides, the moving person must first identify the purpose of reaching a destination.
Next, the person must know not only what those destinations are, but also where they
situated. They must be oriented and able to maintain the currency of orientation as
they moving through the space [12]. In short, all sub-tasks mentioned above will
become the problems for a visually impaired or blind person when they trying to
navigate through the space.


The most convention tools to aid blind or visually impaired person are white
cane and guide dogs. However, they have their drawbacks. For white cane, the users
must have sufficient training before using it. Besides, white cane requires users to
actively scan the small area around them. For the guide dogs, extensive training is
required and it is very costly. Furthermore, the guide dogs will only be useful for
about five years [2].


The development of ETA with GPS navigation devices provides the blind or
visually impaired with some degree of independence in unknown environments.
However, it seems like this kind of ETA focused on outdoor mobility for blind or
visually impaired. Problems due to indoor navigation remain largely unsolved [4].
The problems can be seen as the blinds or visually impaired person walking alone in
an unfamiliar large indoor environment such as airport, shopping malls, museum and
etc. It becomes very challenging for the blind or visually impaired person to
navigate with the correct orientation to a corner such as ticket counter, toilet, cash
register counter and etc. safely. Therefore, one type of ETA should be developed to
aid this group of people to navigate safely in such condition.






5

1.3 Research Objectives


1. To design a low cost assistance robot that is able to help the visually
impaired people to navigate in large indoor environment.
2. To integrate the concept of collision avoidance in the assistance robot.
3. To interface with the user on destination choosing and dangerous
indication along the path.




1.4 Significance of Study


At the end of the project, an assistance robot will be built to help the blind or
visually impaired person to navigate safely in a wide indoor environment. The robot
may be implemented in a huge building such as airport, supermarket, museum and
etc. It can be used to aid the visually impaired or blind people to move to their
desired destination in such environment. Therefore, the robot will be able to help
this group of people to move independently. Other than that, the robot will be able to
navigate without any line or wall following. Thus, this robot may differ with the
convention navigation robot.




1.5 Scope of Study


Throughout the project, the RFID technology will be used for the navigation
of robot in an indoor environment without line following or wall following. Besides,
sensors will be used to act as the eyes of the robot to detect the obstacles around it.
Thus, the robot will be able to avoid any obstacles. Other than that, the robot will be
able to interface with the user. The user may choose different destinations for the
robot to navigate. Furthermore, the robot will acknowledge the user the dangerous
along its navigation path.


CHAPTER 2




LITERATURE REVIEW




2.1 The Guide Cane


The Guide Cane was developed as an assistance robot for the blind and
visually impaired people by Ulrich, I. and Borenstein, J. Both of them were from
University of Michigan. The Guide Cane as shown in Figure 2.1 looks like a
convention cane used by visually impaired person. However, the cane is attached
with a robot which can determine the safe path for the user. Besides, the Guide Cane
can be used in indoor environment as well as outdoor environment. The Guide Cane
consists of three main modules which are housing, wheelbase and handle. At the
housing module, it contains most of the electronic components and ten Polaroid
ultrasonic sensors were mounted around the housing. With the aid of these sensors,
the Guide Cane is able to detect obstacles in the area ahead with a total angular
spacing of 120. Other than that, it is equipped with the ability of wall following by
locating two sonars at its sideway. At the wheelbase module, there are ball bearings
to support two unpowered wheels. The wheels are also built with encoder to
determine the relative motion of the wheels. Then, a servomotor, controlled by the
built-in computer, can steer the wheels left and right relative to the cane. For the
handle module, it acts as a main physical interface between the user and the Guide
Cane. Besides, a mini joystick located at the handle allows the user to specify a
desired direction of motion.
7


Figure 2.1 Guide Cane


During operation, the user pushes the lightweight Guide Cane forward.
When the Guide Canes ultrasonic sensors detects an obstacle, the embedded
computer determines a suitable direction of motion that steers the Guide Cane and
the user around it. The steering action results in a very noticeable force felt in the
handle, which easily guides the user without any conscious effort on his/her part.




2.2 RoboCart


As shown in Figure 2.2, Robocart is a trolley like robot specially builds for
independent shopping for the blind or visually impaired. This robot can perform
three main tasks which are navigation, product selection and product retrieval. In
order to complete the first task, the robot uses laser-based Monte Carlo Markov
localization (MCL) method. However, there are several problems arises in this
method. For example, the robot cannot localize itself when there is heavy shopper
traffic and this method will failed due to wheel slippage on wet floor. The main
drawback of this method is once its failed; it either never recovers, or recovers after
a long drift. Therefore, an RFID-enabled surface as shown in Figure 2.3 is used to
tackle these problems. Every RFID tags having its 2D coordinate. In this method,
the low frequency RFID tags are used with 134.2kHz frequency. The function of
RFID is to create a recalibration area. When the RoboCart reaches on this
recalibration area, its location is known with certainty. Besides, the robot also
utilizes laser range finder and camera for vision based line following to assist in the
navigation task.
8


Figure 2.2 RoboCart


For the second task which is product selection, the robot is equipped with a 9-
key numeric keypad, microphone and Bluetooth headphone for interfacing. The
robot uses three non-visual interfaces for product selection. The first one is a
browsing interface where shopper browses through the complete hierarchy to find the
desired product when given the product categories. The second will be typing
interface where the user required typing the search string using a numeric keypad.
The last interface is using speech based recognition where speech recognition is used
to form the search string.


After the RoboCart successfully lead the shopper to a target place, it is the
task for the robot to help shopper in retrieval of product from the shelf. In order to
complete the task, the robot is equipped with a wireless omni-directional barcode
reader. With the aid of this reader, shopper can scan the barcodes on the desired
shelf and the product name of scanned barcode is read to the shopper.


9


Figure 2.3 Placement of RFID tags for RoboCart localization




2.3 Walking Guide Robot


Walking guide robot as shown in Figure 2.4 is a robot introduced by
Chonbuk National University, Korea. This robot consists of a guide vehicle for the
obstacle detection and a tactile display device for the transfer of the obstacle
information. Besides, the robot offers the information of position and walking
direction acquired from GPS module to the user by voice.




Figure 2.4 Prototype of Walking Guide robot


In order to detect obstacle for the user, the sensing unit of the robot has six
ultrasonic sensors and four infrared ray sensors. Time of Flight (TOF) and Inter-
10
aural Time Difference (ITD) method are used to calculate the position of obstacles.
The Walking Guide Robot is driven and steered by two powered motors in actuating
unit. Meanwhile, separated direct current (DC) motors and drivers control two
wheels of the robot independently. In the navigation module, the robot consists of a
GPS, GPS map and a personal digital assistant (PDA) to provide the information of
position and walking direction for the user by voice. Since the touch senses of the
human are poor at determining absolute quantities but very sensitive to changes,
therefore vibrotactile stimulation is used to design the tactile display device. The
tactile display device located in the handle as shown in Figure 2.5 will offers the
processed obstacle information such as position, size, moving, shape of obstacle and
safe path.




Figure 2.5 Tactile displays for the Walking Guide Robot




2.4 Guide Dog


The Guide Dog as shown in Figure 2.6 was designed by Wong Hwee Ling
who was a student of Universiti Teknologi Malaysia in the year 2002. The main
purpose of design of the robot is to cultivate a guidance concept and to develop the
direction indicator for the blind. The Guide Dog consists of two main parts which
are the chassis and the handle.


11
The chassis is implanted with the main board and other circuitry boards.
Besides, there are five IR sensors equipped on the chassis. Therefore, the robot is
able to sense obstacles in seven directions including North, North-East, North-West,
West, East, upper staircase, holes and uneven surface. The IR sensor used in this
robot is capable to sense obstacle with distance at average 15cm. Furthermore, the
chassis includes two DC motor which is used to control two pairs of wheels of the
Guide Dog.


The handle is the tool for the user to hold when traveling with the robot. At
the end of the handle, there is a keypad and buzzer to interface between the user and
robot. For the keypad, there are twelve switches to control the robot. When an
obstacle is detected, user may utilize this keypad to check the direction of the
obstacle from the user. On the other hand, a buzzer is also used at the end of the
handle. The function of the buzzer is for indication when there are obstacles around
the robot. The buzzer is able to emit series of different sound signal in order to
indicate the direction of dangerous nearby.




Figure 2.6 The Guide Dog




2.5 UBIRO


UBIRO as shown in Figure 2.7 was developed based on an electric
wheelchair (EMC-230) for the elderly and disabled persons as a mobility device.
UBIRO consists of three main parts which are the personal computer (PC) for control,
12
the RFID system for obtaining the location information of robot and the mobile base
for navigation.


The PC attached on the robot is utilized as a control center. It is able to
handle the information of IC tags from the RFID system and sends command to
mobile base in order to reach the goal. On the other hand, the RFID system will read
the IC tags on the floor. Thus, UBIRO may deduce its location and pose. Finally,
the mobile base is controlled by the PC based on calculations result from the
information provided by the RFID system.


Other than that, the robot consists of external sensors such as distance sensors
and touch sensors. By using this kind of sensors, the robot is able to detect and avoid
obstacles. Meanwhile, in the mechanical design, the robots front wheels are free
rotating casters. In this case, it may cause some instability when moving.




Figure 2.7 UBIRO

CHAPTER 3




METHODOLOGY




3.1 Mechanical Design


Figure 3.1, 3.2, 3.3 and 3.4 shows the mechanical design in this project. The
robot comprises of two front wheels made up of poly ethane (PE). Besides, there are
six aluminium sensor holders mounted in front of the robot which are use for three
IR sensors installation. Other than that, one RFID reader is installed at the bottom
chassis of the robot which made up of Perspex. It is used for RFID tags detection on
the floor. Moreover, two aluminium buzzer holders are constructed at both sides for
buzzer attachment. In order to lead the user, a stick will be connected with the rotary
stick holder on the upper part. The middle part made up of a circuit board which
supported by printed circuit board (PCB) stands.




Figure 3.1 Mechanical design (overview)
14



Figure 3.2 Top view and dimensions




Figure 3.3 Front view and dimensions
15



Figure 3.4 Side view and dimensions




Figure 3.5 Stick with rotary base, rubber holder and adjustable length


Figure 3.5 shows the stick attached on the robot. The stick with rotary base
and rubber holder is built. The purpose of such design is to reduce the impact of the
movement of user on the robot while navigating. The user will hold on the elastic
rubber holder therefore the user will not accidently push and pull the robot. The
rotary base is used so that the robot is able to make smooth turning although the stick
16

is hold by the user through rubber holder. Furthermore, the length of the stick can be
adjusted to meet the height of the user.




3.2 Circuit Design and Equipments


The system design in this project involves three main parts which include
indoor navigation, obstacles avoidance, and user interfacing. Therefore, different
types of devices have to be used in order to complete the three tasks stated. A
microcontroller with model PIC18F452 was used to control the operation of the
robot.




3.2.1 System Overview




Figure 3.6 Overview of system


Refer to Figure 3.6, input to the microcontroller consist of power supply,
digital data from RFID reader, analog value from IR sensors and keypad reading. By
processing those data, microcontroller will determine the operations of actuator
which is stepper motors and buzzers.
17

There are two power supplies used in the robot, one is supplied to the
microcontroller. The other power supply is used to drive stepper motors, RFID
reader and IR sensors. Separate power supplies were used to avoid any unwanted
signal interference that may happen to microcontroller. As illustrated in Figure 3.7,
regulator LM7805 were used to regulate the power supply to 5V (VCC).
Successfully regulated voltage will be indicated by the LED installed. Besides, one
diode was used to protect the circuit in case the polarity of the power supply is
incorrect.




Figure 3.7 Power supply circuit


Figure 3.8 shows the pins connections of microcontroller. It can be noted that
the microcontroller is supplied by the 20MHz clock for its operation. Other than that,
eight pins were used for keypad connections, three pins for analog signal from IR
sensors, four pins for stepper motor control, two pins for buzzers and one pin was
used for universal asynchronous receive transmit (UART) connection to receive data
from RFID reader. Furthermore, other pins were used to connect to light emitting
diodes (LEDs) and push buttons.
Regulator
LM7805
18



Figure 3.8 PIC18F452 circuit connections




3.2.2 Indoor Navigation


In order to design the robot which is able to navigate in indoor environment
without line or wall following, the RFID technology will be used for localization and
pose estimation. On the other hand, two stepper motors will be involved in this
project in order to have a more accurate angle turning when the robot navigates to the
target.


In RFID technology as shown in Figure 3.9, it is always made up of two
components which are:
The tag or transponder, which has its own identification number.
The reader or interrogator, which is able to detect and receive the
identification number from the transponder.
19



Figure 3.9 RFID technology


In this project, there will be one RFID reader and sixty RFID passive tags
used. The model of RFID reader used is IDR-232 as shown in Figure 3.10. Both of
the reader and tags will be operated in the frequency of 125 kHz. Other than that, the
maximum range needed for the reader to sense for the tag is 5cm. In the project,
RFID tags will be implanted on the floor and covered by mat in 2D- Cartesian
coordinate manner. Every tag will have its own coordinate location. On the other
hand, the RFID reader will be mounted on the base of the robot. Therefore, when the
robot navigates through the mat which having RFID tags implanted under it, the
reader will be able to retrieve the data stored inside the tag. As a result, the location
and pose of the robot will be known. Therefore, the direction for the robot to
navigate can be determined by the microcontroller through trigonometry functions.


The advantage of RFID technology used in this project is the ability to work
under harsh environment conditions. For instance, the ultrasonic sensors will face
problems with the noise while the IR sensor will face difficulties when work under
various density of light. Other than that, the response time of the RFID is very fast.
Thus, the location of the robot can be determined in short time. Moreover, the shell
life of RFID is long since there is no battery needed for the passive tags which is
used in this project.


20



Figure 3.10 RFID reader and passive tags


The signal conditioning circuit for RFID reader is as shown in Figure 3.11.
The circuit is needed due to RFID reader is using RS232 communication type for
signal transmission. The transistor as shown in Figure 3.11 is responsible to toggle
signal from reader (-10V/+10V) to signal compatible with microcontroller (5V/0V).
When 10V is read from reader, the transistor will turn on and pull down the voltage
at Rx pin to ground. Conversely while -10V is read, the transistor will turn off and
Rx pin will pull up to 5V (VCC).




Figure 3.11 Signal conditioning circuit for RFID reader


The model of the stepper motor that is used in this project is 17PMK508 as
shown in Figure 3.12. This is an unipolar stepper motor. The holding torque given
Signal conditioning part
21

by the motor will up to 2.25 cm/kg. For simplification, a motor driver with model
UCN5804 will be used to drive the motor.




Figure 3.12 Stepper motor


Figure 3.13 shows the schematic drawing for one of the stepper motor. It can
be noted that the motor operates in 12V power supply. Besides, motor driver with
model UCN5804 was used to drive the motor. With two inputs which are Half_step
and One_phase driven to low, the motor is driven under two phase mode which will
produce highest torque to the motor. Two inputs of the driver are controlled by
microcontroller which will determine the direction of turning and speed of the motor.
The diode is needed for the circuit in order to protect the transistor inside the driver.
This is due to a large back-emf current will be produced when the particular coil is
turned off which may damage the transistor inside the driver.




Figure 3.13 Motor part
Power resistor
Motor driver
UCN5804
22

3.2.3 Obstacles Avoidance


In order to avoid any obstacles along the path of the robot, three analog IR
sensors will be equipped in front of the robot as shown in Figure 3.14. The model of
IR sensor used is GP2Y0A21YK. After testing, it was found that the sensor was able
to sense the object with distance up to 80 cm. Besides, it is less affected by the
surfaces colour of the object. The output of the sensor will be further process by the
analog to digital converter (ADC) of the microcontroller to obtain the distance of the
obstacle. At a critical distance, avoidance algorithm will be performed.




Figure 3.14 Analog Infrared sensors




3.2.4 User Interfacing


In line with the title of the project, the user who we are dealing with is blind
or visually impaired person. Therefore, interfacing with the user cannot be done by
using graphic user interface (GUI). In order to overcome this problem, one keypad is
implemented in the project. The function of the keypad is for the user to choose
different destinations for navigation. Other than that, two buzzers are attached at
both side of the robot. The buzzers are used for indication to the user about the
dangerous along the path. Therefore, user may be able to identify the condition of
23

their surroundings by notice which side of buzzer is generating beep sound. Figure
3.15 shows the keypad used and placement of buzzers.




Figure 3.15 Keypad and buzzers for user interfacing




3.3 Software Design


The most important part in software design is the navigation algorithm. The
navigation algorithm includes the direction decision making with the aid of RFID
tags. Other than that, the robot is able to determine its orientation by using three
coordinate positions. Figure 3.16 shows the algorithm of navigation.

Keypad connector Buzzers
24



Figure 3.16 Navigation Algorithm


Figure 3.16 shown is the algorithm executed by the robot from the start until
it reaches the target chooses by the user. In order to obtain the direction for the robot
to navigate, the trigonometric functions and Cartesian coordinates in a regular
gridline are used. The algorithm categorized different movements into four
categories and having four types of angle calculation. As a result, the robot is
expected to navigate with a smooth and shorter path. In order to categorize the
movements, there are three steps needed to be taken:

(i) Determination of quadrant of movement
(ii) Determination of angle for previous position to current position and
current position to goal position
(iii) Categorization





25

3.3.1 Determination of Quadrant of Movement


The first part in the algorithm is to determine which quadrant of the previous
movement (Q
P
) and the quadrant taken for the next movement to reach the goal (Q
N
).
This can be done by examine the coordinate position of the previous, current and
goal location. By referring to Figure 3.17, the distribution of quadrant is as shown.




Figure 3.17 Quadrant Distribution


Where:
1
st
quadrant: 0 90
2
nd
quadrant: 90 180
3
rd
quadrant: 180 270
4
th
quadrant: 270 360


For the situation shown in Figure 3.18, the path taken from previous location
to current location is in 0 90 (x
current
x
previous
and y
current
y
previous
) of the frame
of previous location. Therefore, Q
P
is 1
st
quadrant. While observe the path from
current location to goal location, it is in the portion of 90 180 (x
goal
x
current
and
y
goal
y
current
) of the frame of current location. As a result, Q
N
is 2
nd
quadrant.
26



Figure 3.18 Determination of quadrant


Conclusion for quadrant determination can be drawn by examine x, y
coordination of previous location, current location and goal location:
x
current
x
previous
and y
current
y
previous
Q
P
= 1
st
quadrant (3.1)
x
current
x
previous
and y
current
y
previous
Q
P
= 2
nd
quadrant (3.2)
x
current
x
previous
and y
current
y
previous
Q
P
= 3
rd
quadrant (3.3)
x
current
x
previous
and y
current
y
previous
Q
P
= 4
th
quadrant (3.4)
x
goal
x
current
and y
goal
y
current
Q
N
= 1
st
quadrant (3.5)
x
goal
x
current
and y
goal
y
current
Q
N
= 2
nd
quadrant (3.6)
x
goal
x
current
and y
goal
y
current
Q
N
= 3
rd
quadrant (3.7)
x
goal
x
current
and y
goal
y
current
Q
N
= 4
th
quadrant (3.8)











27

3.3.2 Determination of Angle for Previous Position to Current Position and
Current Position to Goal Position


Angle for previous position to current position (
previous

current
) and angle for
current position to goal position (
current

goal
) can be calculated by using
trigonometric functions.




Figure 3.19 Angle calculation


By referring to Figure 3.19, both angles can be obtained by using equations as
shown:

previous

current
= = tan
-1
[ (x
current
x
previous
) / (y
current
y
previous
)] (3.9)

current

goal
= = tan
-1
[ (x
goal
x
current
) / (y
goal
y
current
)] (3.10)


When meet certain condition where denominator eg. (y
current
y
previous
) or
(y
goal
y
current
) is zero, we may assign 90 to the result.








28

3.3.3 Categorization


By examine four conditions which are Q
P
, Q
N
,
previous

current
and
current

goal
,
all possible angles turning can be obtained. Table 3.1 shows the result of grouping
which having different direction and turning angle.


Table 3.1: Summary of categorization
Type 1 Type 2 Type 3* Type 4*
Q
P
Q
N
Q
P
Q
N
Q
P
Q
N
Q
P
Q
N

1
st
1
st
1
st
4
th
2
nd
4
th
2
nd
4
th

2
nd
2
nd
2
nd
3
rd
4
th
2
nd
4
th
2
nd

3
rd
3
rd
3
rd
2
nd
1
st
3
rd
1
st
3
rd

4
th
4
th
4
th
1
st
3
rd
1
st
3
rd
1
st

1
st
2
nd

3
rd
4
th

2
nd
1
st

4
th
3
rd



Each types having its own direction determination method as well as equation
to obtain turning angle,
rotation
. The * sign means special case.

Type 1:
Q
P
> Q
N
right
Q
P
< Q
N
left
Q
P
= Q
N
(i)
current

goal
>
previous

current
right
(ii)
current

goal
<
previous

current
left

rotation
= absolute (
current

goal
-
previous

current
) (3.11)





29

Type 2:
Q
P
= 1
st
, Q
N
= 4
th
right
Q
P
= 3
rd
, Q
N
= 2
nd
right
Q
P
= 4
th
, Q
N
= 1
st
left
Q
P
= 2
nd
, Q
N
= 3
rd
left

rotation
= 180 - [absolute(
current

goal
) + absolute(
previous

current
)] (3.12)


Type 3*:
Q
P
and Q
N
are even right
Q
P
and Q
N
are odd left

rotation
= 180 - [absolute(
current

goal
) - absolute(
previous

current
)] (3.13)


Type 4*:
Q
P
and Q
N
are even left
Q
P
and Q
N
are odd right

rotation
= 180 - [absolute(
previous

current
) - absolute(
current

goal
)] (3.14)




3.3.4 Special Case


It can be seen that Type 3 and Type 4 having the same component for Q
P
and
Q
N
. This can be explained through the situation shown in Figure 3.20 and Figure
3.21 where the movements are in opposite direction although having the same value
for Q
P
and Q
N
.


30



Figure 3.20 Type 3 movement




Figure 3.21 Type 4 movement


In both cases, it can be noted that Q
P
is 1
st
quadrant while Q
N
is 3
rd
quadrant.
However, the direction of turning for both condition are different.


In Figure 3.20,

current

goal
>
previous

current

rotation
= 180 - [absolute(
current

goal
) - absolute(
previous

current
)] (3.15)
Direction taken left
Where
current

goal
= and
previous

current
=
31

In Figure 3.21,

previous

current
>
current

goal

rotation
= 180 - [absolute(
previous

current
) - absolute(
current

goal
)] (3.16)
Direction taken right
Where
current

goal
= and
previous

current
=

As a result, we shall determine which condition stated below is fulfilled
before we categorize such movement in which category:

current

goal
>
previous

current
Type 3

previous

current
>
current

goal
Type 4




3.3.5 Interrupt Routine for Tag Detected




Figure 3.22 Interrupt flow chart
32

In order to make the robot is able to keep updating its current position in the
environment; an interrupt routine as shown in Figure 3.22 will be utilized. In the
routine, the identification number retrieve from tag will be used to find the
corresponding coordination position from database. Then, the retrieved coordination
position will be compared with the current position. If that is a new position, the
algorithm will update its previous and current position. As a result, the robot will be
able to keep track of its position although performing obstacle avoidance and
immediately trace for the new path to reach the destination after avoid obstacle.








CHAPTER 4




RESULT AND DISCUSSION




4.1 Keypad and Robot Control


In order to interface with user, the 4x4 matrix keypad is used. After power up
the robot, user may enter key A for mode A execution. Besides, user may enter key
B for mode B instead of mode A. In mode A, the robot is able to navigate to three
predefined destinations. User is required to key-in the number of destination to
travel. In mode B, the user may enter the xy coordinate of the destination wishes to
navigate. Below are the steps to control the robot in mode A and mode B.


Robot control in mode A:

1. Three destinations can be chosen by the user. User may enter key 1,
key 2 or key 3.
2. Key # must be pressed to enter the desired location number so that
the robot will start navigate.
3. After the robot reaches the destination, a long beep sound from
buzzers will be noticed. User may repeat step 1 and step 2 for next
location. User may enter key D for mode reset so that user can
switch between mode A and mode B
34

Robot control in mode B:

1. User may enter the desired location by key-in the xy-coordinate of the
destination. First, user is needed to enter x-coordinate.
2. Key # must be pressed to confirm the x-coordinate.
3. User may enter the y-coordinate of the desired destination.
4. Key # should be pressed so that the robot acquired the destination
and start to navigate.
5. Step 1 to step 4 can be repeated if the user wish to continue execute in
this mode. Otherwise, key D can be pressed for mode reset.




4.2 Obstacle and Sensor response


Three analog IR sensors used in this project playing an important role in
obstacle avoidance. The sensors will produce an increasing voltage as obstacle
approaching towards it. Therefore, output voltage corresponding to a particular
distance of obstacle for each sensor is gathered so that distance of the obstacle can be
known. Table 4.1, 4.2, 4.3 shows the response of middle, right and left sensor with
respect to distance of obstacle respectively. Besides, the average reading from each
sensor is plotted in Figure 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3 respectively.


















35

Table 4.1: Response of middle sensor with respect to distance of obstacle
Distance
(cm)
Reading 1
(V)
Reading 2
(V)
Reading 3
(V)
Average Reading
(V)
>60 0.31 0.28 0.37 0.32
60 0.49 0.5 0.52 0.50
55 0.53 0.54 0.55 0.54
50 0.55 0.58 0.59 0.57
45 0.58 0.61 0.66 0.62
40 0.64 0.67 0.7 0.67
35 0.73 0.77 0.77 0.76
30 0.84 0.88 0.87 0.86
25 0.98 1.03 0.94 0.98
20 1.22 1.25 1.12 1.20
15 1.57 1.5 1.36 1.48
10 1.8 1.71 1.6 1.70
5 1.94 1.79 1.6 1.78




Figure 4.1 Voltage response of middle sensor against distance of obstacle




0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
1.40
1.60
1.80
2.00
>60 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5
V
o
l
t
a
g
e

(
V
)
Distance (cm)
Voltage of Middle Sensor (V) vs Obstacle Distance
(cm)
Average Reading (V)
36

Table 4.2: Response of right sensor with respect to distance of obstacle
Distance
(cm)
Reading 1
(V)
Reading 2
(V)
Reading 3
(V)
Average Reading
(V)
>60 0.46 0.25 0.29 0.33
60 0.53 0.55 0.56 0.55
55 0.56 0.59 0.59 0.58
50 0.59 0.63 0.63 0.62
45 0.65 0.68 0.69 0.67
40 0.71 0.74 0.76 0.74
35 0.76 0.81 0.84 0.80
30 0.86 0.91 0.94 0.90
25 1.01 1.06 1.02 1.03
20 1.25 1.27 1.25 1.26
15 1.59 1.6 1.56 1.58
10 1.93 1.94 1.71 1.86
5 1.94 1.94 1.82 1.90




Figure 4.2 Voltage response of right sensor against distance of obstacle




0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
1.40
1.60
1.80
2.00
>60 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5
V
o
l
t
a
g
e

(
V
)
Distance (cm)
Voltage of Right Sensor (V) vs Obstacle Distance
(cm)
Average Reading (V)
37

Table 4.3: Response of left sensor with respect to distance of obstacle
Distance
(cm)
Reading 1
(V)
Reading 2
(V)
Reading 3
(V)
Average Reading
(V)
>60 0.18 0.19 0.24 0.20
60 0.53 0.48 0.51 0.51
55 0.56 0.53 0.54 0.54
50 0.58 0.58 0.58 0.58
45 0.65 0.63 0.62 0.63
40 0.71 0.67 0.69 0.69
35 0.8 0.73 0.77 0.77
30 0.9 0.87 0.86 0.88
25 1 1.02 0.98 1.00
20 1.19 1.14 1.14 1.16
15 1.41 1.37 1.38 1.39
10 1.57 1.57 1.58 1.57
5 1.57 1.57 1.58 1.57




Figure 4.3 Voltage response of left sensor against distance of obstacle


By referring to Figure 4.1, 4.2 and 4.3, it can be noted that the response of
each sensor to a particular obstacle distance may not the same. This is due to the
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
1.40
1.60
1.80
2.00
>60 60 55 50 45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5
V
o
l
t
a
g
e

(
V
)
Distance (cm)
Voltage of Left Sensor (V) vs Obstacle Distance (cm)
Average Reading (V)
38

characteristic of each sensor is not the same and results in some tolerance in their
output voltage. Besides, environment factors such as density of light will affect the
response of sensor. Therefore, a software calibration on each sensor is made so that
all sensors can work effectively under different environment.


Whenever there is obstacle detected in front of the robot, different types of
beep sound will be produced by both sides of buzzer according to the distance of the
obstacle. Table 4.4 shows the response of the buzzers to the obstacle.


Table 4.4: Response of buzzer
Distance from the obstacle (cm) Response of buzzer
35 25 Beep once
25 20 Beep twice
20 10 Beep three times and perform avoidance
<10 Beep four times and move backward


If there is obstacle detected at the side of robot, the particular buzzer will
generate a beep sound to notify user. For example, when there is obstacle at left side,
left buzzer will generate beep sound. After notify user that there is obstacle, the
robot will search for a path to pass through it. After determine a new path, buzzer
will beep again to notify user. For instance, if the robot will make a turn to right side,
right buzzer will produce a beep sound.




4.3 Experiments for Navigation


In order to test for the validity of the algorithm, two RFID based maps are
constructed as shown in Figure 4.4 and Figure 4.5. The map as shown in Figure 4.4
(low resolution map) is using 40 RFID tags to act as 2D coordinate position. All tags
are embedded under the carpet and separated to each other by 22.5 cm.


39

On the other hand, another map is built as shown in Figure 4.5 (high
resolution map). The purpose of the construction of this map is to obtain the result of
movement of the robot when implemented in a higher resolution of RFID based
environment. Therefore, 60 RFID tags are used for construction and every tag is
separated to each other by 15 cm. The 3 tags in yellow color indicated in both maps
are the destination which may choose by the user for navigation in this experiment.




Figure 4.4 Low resolution map with 40 RFID tags used


40



Figure 4.5 High resolution map with 60 RFID tags used




4.4 Results on Navigation


Case1:
The robot is required to navigate from start point to destination 1, destination 2, and
destination 3. There is no obstacle added in the map.


41



Figure 4.6 Result for case 1 (low resolution map)




Figure 4.7 Result for case1 (high resolution map)


From the result obtained as shown in Figure 4.6and Figure 4.7, it can be
noted that the robot is able to reach the entire destination. Referring to Figure 4.6,
the robot is able to make a correct angle turning with the proposed algorithm.
Therefore, the robot is able to take the shortest path to reach the target. Referring to
Figure 4.7, the path taken by the robot to reach the target is not smooth compare to
the result obtained in Figure 4.6. This is due to the detection range of the RFID
42

reader is approximately 5 cm. Therefore, the robot will detect other tag nearby along
its path and perform angle adjustment.


Case 2:
The robot is started in random orientations and needed to navigate to destination 2.
The map is clear of any obstacle.




Figure 4.8 Result for case 2 (low resolution map)




Figure 4.9 Result for case 2 (high resolution map)
43

Figure 4.8 and Figure 4.9 show that the robot is able to navigate to the
destination regardless to the starting pose. The path taken by the robot shown in
Figure 4.8 is smooth compared to the path taken in Figure 4.9, this is due to the range
of detection of the RFID reader as described in case 1.


Case 3:
In this case, there is one obstacle added into the map. The robot is commanded to
travel for destination 2.




Figure 4.10 Result for case 3 (low resolution map)




Figure 4.11 Result for case 3 (high resolution map)
44

From the result obtained from Figure 4.10 and Figure 4.11, the robot is able
to avoid any obstacle encountered in its path. After avoidance, it will trace for a new
path to reach the destination provided that there is tag detected. From observation,
the robot implemented in low resolution map will take longer distance to detect a tag
for position feedback due to the distance between tags is further. In some experiment,
the robot is ran out of the map due to no tag is detected after obstacle avoidance.
These phenomena become well when implement the robot in high resolution map.
Because of the more compact placement of the tags, the robot is able to detect a tag
fast after perform avoidance and execute new path finding.


Case 4:
The robot is commanded to navigate to destination with more obstacles added in the
map.




Figure 4.12 Result for case 3 (low resolution map)


45



Figure 4.13 Result for case 4 (high resolution map)


It can be seen that in Figure 4.12 and Figure 4.13, the robot is able to navigate
to the destination although there is more than 1 obstacle in the map. In low
resolution map, the robot becomes more difficult to trace for a new path after
perform avoidance. This is due to limited tag to act as feedback for the robot. The
difficulties is not face by the robot when using high resolution map since the robot
can easily detect a tag to act as position feedback.




4.5 Summary of Experiment


The result of experiments shows that the robot is able to make different
turning angle while navigating to the destination with the proposed algorithm under
different condition as long as there is tag detected to act as position and orientation
feedback. Besides, different condition on the map will make the robot take different
path to travel to the destination. Moreover, the robot will avoid any obstacle in its
path and a new path will be taken to reach the destination.
46

Since the robot will take the obstacle avoidance as the high priority than
reaching the goal location, the result shown above is only true under situation where
no obstacle is too close to the destination. Some experiments were failed when using
low resolution map due to the prototype map used is small and number of tag used is
limited. Consequently, the robot may run out of the map while performing obstacle
avoidance. However, this problem is solved easily when the robot is implemented in
a high resolution where more tags are utilized as the position and orientation
feedback to the robot. The drawback when using high resolution map is the RFID
reader may detect some unwanted tag which come closer to the robot when the robot
navigating. This is due to the reading range of the reader is approximately 5 cm.
Therefore, the path taken by the robot to the destination may not as smooth as the
path taken in low resolution map.


CHAPTER 5




CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS




5.1 Conclusions


In conclusion, the robot is able to lead the user to various destinations as
commanded by the user. The user can select the destination by using the keypad
equipped on the robot.


As the result obtained from experiment, the robot is able to navigate to the
destination with the proposed algorithm by using RFID system and movements
categorization. Furthermore, the robot can be implemented in a dynamic
environment since the robot is able to gather the obstacle information in the
surroundings through the analog IR sensors mounted in front of the robot. Any
obstacle that detected by the robot will be displayed to the user by using beep sound
generated by the buzzers.


As a result, assistance robot for the blind and visually impaired may aid the
user to navigate in indoor environment more efficiently by using this algorithm.






48

5.2 Limitations and Future Recommendations


There are a few limitations encountered in developing the project. Firstly, the
use of the buzzers to indicate the user about the dangerous in the environment may
not a good solution. This is due to the user needed to further interpret the type of
beep sound generated to understand the information. Besides, the current draw by
the stepper motor is quite high which result in the battery is exhausted fast and
needed to recharge frequently. Other than that, a lot of heat is generated by the
power resistor that used in motor part result in high temperature. In certain condition,
the robot may make wide turn approximately 180 and face to the user. If the user
keeps move forward, he or she may kick on the robot.


Voice interface may be the best solution to interface with the user where it
can be used in place of the buzzers. By using voice interface, user may interpret the
message from robot easily. This may aid the movement of user especially when
performing obstacle avoidance. Besides, cooling system may be added to the motor
part since there is a lot of heat generated by the power resistor. Other than that, the
turning angle of the robot should be limited to less than 180 so that the robot will
take longer path to make wide turn. This will reduce the problem on crashing
between the user and robot.



49

REFERENCES




1. Tan, C.L., C.S. Tan, and Moghavvemi, Electronic Travel Aid for Visually
Impaired, in The AEESEAP International Conference 2005. 2005: KL,
Malaysia.

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Appendix A


Schematic drawing of main board




52

Appendix B


Schematic drawing of motor




53

Appendix C


Source code


/******************Source code is under copyright*****************/
// For further information, please refer to Dr. Salinda Buyamin