GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Conventionally, wireless-controlled robots use RF circuits, which have the

drawbacks of limited working range, limited frequency range and limited control.
Use of a mobile phone for robotic control can overcome these limitations. It
provides the advantages of robust control, working range as large as the
coverage area of the service provider, no interference with other controllers and
up to twelve controls.
Although the appearance and capabilities of robots vary vastly, all robots share
the features of a mechanical, movable structure under some form of control. The
control of robot involves three distinct phases: perception, processing and
action. Generally, the preceptors are sensors mounted on the robot, processing
is done by the on-board microcontroller or processor, and the task (action) is
performed using motors or with some other actuators.
In this project, the robot is controlled by a mobile phone that makes a call to the
mobile phone attached to the robot. In the course of a call, if any button is
pressed, a tone corresponding to the button pressed is heard at the other end of
the call. The robot perceives this DTMF code with the help of the phone stacked
in the robot. The received code is processed by the AT89xxx microcontroller.
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATION

Working Voltage 12V AC/DC

Operating Current - 1000ma approx.
Dual 12V 400 MA Motor Driver
On board Power LED indicator
Data received LED (Red) indicator
GSM or CDMA Mobile interfacing Via Head phone (kit with standard NOKIA
Head phone)
Two Digital Sensor Input = Active Low @ 5V DC
Status of each sensor with LED Indication
Can be operated from anywhere, no distance limit;
Internal Buzzer for alarm
Operating voltage 12 to 15V DC
Operating current 1500ma (approx.)
Power on LED Indication
Communicate from any other mobile phone (GSM or CDMA)
Diode protection for reverse polarity connection of DC supply to the PCB
Onboard regulator for regulated supply to the kit
Extremely easy to install
Microcontroller based design for greater flexibility

HOW ITS WORK?

In this project, the robot is controlled by a mobile phone that makes a call to the

mobile phone attached to the robot. In the course of a call, if any button is
pressed, a tone corresponding to the button pressed is heard at the other end of
the call. This tone is called 'dual-tone multiple-frequency' (DTMF) tone. The robot
perceives this DTMF tone with the help of the phone stacked in the robot. The
received tone is processed by the AT89xxx microcontroller with the help of DTMF
decoder MT8870.
The decoder decodes the DTMF tone into its equivalent binary digit and this
binary number is sent to the microcontroller. The microcontroller is
preprogrammed to take a decision for any given input and outputs its decision
to motor drivers in order to drive the motors for forward or backward motion or
a turn.
The mobile that makes a call to the mobile phone stacked in the robot acts as a
remote. So this simple robotic project does not require the construction of
receiver and transmitter units. DTMF signaling is used for telephone signaling
over the line in the voice-frequency band to the call switching centre. The
version of DTMF used for telephone tone dialing is known as 'Touch-Tone. DTMF
assigns a specific frequency (consisting of two separate tones) to each key so
that it can easily be identified by the electronic circuit. The signal generated by
the DTMF encoder is a direct algebraic summation, in real time, of the
amplitudes of two sine (cosine) waves of different frequencies, i.e., pressing '5'
will send a tone made by adding 1336 Hz and 770 Hz to the other end of the
line. The tones and assignments in a DTMF system are shown in Table 1
DTMF TONE ASSIGNMENT SYSTEM (TABLE - 1)

Frequency

1209 Hz

1336 Hz

1477 Hz

1633 Hz

697

770

852

941

In the block diagram of the microcontroller-based cell phone controlled robot.

The important components of this rover are a DTMF decoder, microcontroller
and motor driver.
DTMF DECODER
An MT8870 series DTMF decoder is used here. All types of the MT8870 series
use digital counting techniques to detect and decode all the 16 DTMF tone pairs
into a 4-bit code output. The built-in dial tone rejection circuit eliminates the
need for pre-filtering. When the input signal given at pin 2 (IN-) in single-ended
input configuration is recognized to be effective, the correct 4-bit decode signal

of the DTMF tone is transferred to Q1 (pin 11) through Q4 (pin 14) outputs. Table
2 shows the DTMF data output table of MT8870. Q1 through Q4 outputs of the
DTMF decoder (U4) are connected to port pins P1.0 through P1.4 of AT89xxx
microcontroller (U2).
MICRO CONTROLLER INTERFACE
The AT89xxx is a low-power, high-performance CMOS 8-bit microcomputer with
4K / 8K bytes of Flash programmable and erasable read only memory (PEROM).
The device is manufactured using Atmels high-density nonvolatile memory
technology and is compatible with the industry-standard MCS-51 instruction set
and pin out. The on-chip Flash allows the program memory to be reprogrammed
in-system or by a conventional nonvolatile memory programmer. By combining
a versatile 8-bit CPU with Flash on a monolithic chip, the Atmel AT89xxx is a
powerful microcomputer which provides a highly-flexible and cost-effective
solution to many embedded control applications. It provides the following
features:
Compatible with MCS-51 Products
4K / 8K Bytes of In-System Reprogrammable Flash Memory
Fully Static Operation: 0 Hz to 24 MHz
Three-level Program Memory Lock
128 x 8-bit Internal RAM
32 Programmable I/O Lines
Two 16-bit Timer/Counters
Six Interrupt Sources
Programmable Serial Channel
Low-power Idle and Power-down
Modes 8-bit
Outputs from port pins P0.0 through P0.4 of the microcontroller are fed to
inputs INI through IN4 and enable pins (EN1 and EN2) of motor driver L293D,
respectively, to drive two geared DC motors. The microcontroller output is not
sufficient to drive the DC motors, so current drivers are required for motor
rotation.
SENSOR INTERFACE
A maximum of two sensors can be connected to the system via CN7; these can
be found in the circuit diagram. These sensors need to have their contacts open
when in the inactive state (i.e. normally open) or active low signal @ 5V DC. A
power supply voltage of +5 VDC is available for each sensor at the
corresponding wiring terminals (CN4). There are many type of sensor available
you can connect with the projects. External detection Sensors interface to micro
controller via Port, P0.0 to P0.1, (pin no 39 & 38). Port P0 Used as a digital Input
Port and is pulled up via 10K resistors network (R-pack RN1).

PIR (Passive Infrared Detector)

Sensor
Metal Detector
Smoke detector
Flame Sensor
Alcohol sensor
Glass Break Sensor
Sound Sensor
Vibration sensor
LPG GAS detector
Magnetic door sensor

FIRE sensor (Temperature sensor

with
active Low output)
Ultrasonic motion sensor
Water Overflow Level Sensor
Oil Overflow Level Sensor
Water Leak Sensor
Temperature Sensor
Shock Sensor
Power failure sensor

BUZZER
A 12V buzzer is connected to port P3.3 (pin 13) of the micro controller through a
driver transistor (Q1). The buzzer requires 12 volts at a current of around 100
MA, which cannot provide by the micro controller. So the driver transistor is
added. The buzzer is used to addible alarm indication. Normally the buzzer
remains off. As soon as pin of the micro controller goes high, the buzzer
operates.
MOTOR DRIVER
The L293D is a quad, high-current, half-H driver designed to provide bidirectional
drive currents of up to 600 mA at voltages from 4.5V to 36V. It makes it easier to
drive the DC motors. The L293D consists of four drivers. Pins INI through IN4 and
OUT1 through OUT4 are input and output pins, respectively, of driver 1 through
driver 4. Drivers 1 and 2, and drivers 3 and 4 are enabled by enable pin 1 (EN1)
and pin 9 (EN2) respectively. When enable input EN1 (pin 1) is high, drivers 1
and 2 are enabled and the outputs corresponding to their inputs are active.
Similarly, enable input EN2 (pin 9) enables drivers 3 and 4.
POWER SUPPLY
Two supply voltages are required for circuit. A DC or AC 12 V mains adaptor is
connected to bridge rectifier (D1 - 4) via CN5 connector. U1, U2 and U3 are
supplied with a regulated 5 V from a 7805 (U4) fixed voltage Regulator. The
unregulated voltage of approximately 12 V is required for Motor driving circuit
(U3) and Two DC Motor.
THEORY OF H BRIDGE (DC MOTOR DRIVER)
Let's start with the name, H-bridge. Sometimes called a "full bridge" the Hbridge is so named because it has four switching elements at the "corners" of
the H and the motor forms the cross bar. The basic bridge is shown in the figure
to the right. The key fact to note is that there are, in theory, four switching

elements within the bridge. These four elements are often called, high side left,
high side right, low side right, and low side left (when traversing in clockwise
order).
The switches are turned on in pairs, either high left and lower right, or lower left
and high right, but never both switches on the same "side" of the bridge. If both
switches on one side of a bridge are turned on it creates a short circuit between
the battery plus and battery minus terminals. If the bridge is sufficiently
powerful it will absorb that load and your batteries will simply drain quickly.
Usually however the switches in question melt.

To power the motor, you turn on two switches that are diagonally opposed. In
the picture to the right, imagine that the high side left and low side right
switches are turned on. The current flow is shown in green.
The current flows and the motor begins to turn in a "positive" direction. What
happens if you turn on the high side right and low side left switches? Current
flows the other direction through the motor and the motor turns in the opposite
direction. Pretty simple stuff right? Actually it is just that simple, the tricky part
comes in when you decide what to use for switches. Anything that can carry a
current will work, from four SPST switches, one DPDT switch, relays, transistors,
to enhancement mode power MOSFETs.
One more topic in the basic theory section quadrants. If each switch can be
controlled independently then you can do some interesting things with the
bridge, some folks call such a bridge a "four quadrant device" (4QD get it?). If
you built it out of a single DPDT relay, you can really only control forward or
reverse. You can build a small truth table that tells you for each of the switch's
states, what the bridge will do. As each switch has one of two states, and there
are four switches, there are 16 possible states. However, since any state that
turns both switches on one side on is "bad", there are in fact only four useful
states (the four quadrants) where the transistors are turned on.

PART EXPLANATION
WHAT IS A MICRO ?
A microcontroller is a computer on a single chip; it contains a CPU (usually called
the core) and a variety of peripherals which assist your application. In simple
circuits the micro may be the only IC! By contrast a typical CPU, like the x86 in
your PC, contains only the core - all peripherals, like timers and DMA controllers,
are in external chips. Many micros can operate with no external components
except an oscillator (a crystal or ceramic resonator) - some do not even require
this, having an oscillator built in!
You might not be aware of this, but micros greatly outnumber conventional CPUs
(as used in PCs) on this planet, numbering in the billions. Almost all modern
appliances include them to support the friendliness and programmability
consumers expect these days. Micros can have a very long life span - chips first
offered in the late 70s are still chosen for many new designs today!

THE MICRO WORLD

At the top level, micros are classified by the number of bits in a data (not
instruction) word. The most popular segment by far is the 8-bit micro, which is
what this document attempts to cover. 4-bit micros are used in many highvolume appliances with mini man computing needs, but they are not easily
accessible to low-volume users. 16 and 32-bit micros are much more powerful
and correspondingly larger - many 32-bit devices are designed to offer Pentiumclass power at a fraction of the power and price for battery-operated computers,
video game consoles etc.
8-bit micros range in size from very small (only 8 pins!) to very large (over 200
pins), with some large chips providing power and expandability comparable to
that of modern CPUs. Since applications for very large micros are specialized
and expensive to pursue, we will concentrate on micros offering through-hole
rather than surface-mount parts, which effectively limits us to 84-pin and
smaller devices.
MICRO CONTROLLER AT89Sxx
The AT89xxx is a low-power, high-performance CMOS 8-bit microcomputer with
4K / 8K bytes of Flash programmable and erasable read only memory (PEROM).
The device is manufactured using Atmels high-density nonvolatile memory
technology and is compatible with the industry-standard MCS-51 instruction set
and pin out. The on-chip Flash allows the program memory to be reprogrammed
in-system or by a conventional nonvolatile memory programmer. By combining
a versatile 8-bit CPU with Flash on a monolithic chip, the Atmel AT89xxx is a

powerful microcomputer which provides a highly-flexible and cost-effective

solution to many embedded control applications.
L293 H-BRIDGE
The L293 has 2 H-Bridges (actually 4 Half H-Bridges), can provide about 1 amp
to each and occasional peak loads to 2 amps.

The L293 contains 4 half H-bridges labelled 1, 2, 3 and 4 in the pin diagram,
which can be used in pairs as two full H-Bridges. In this IC there are two different
power supplies (Vcc1 and Vcc2). Vcc1 is for logic input circuit while Vcc2 is
supply for the output circuit. This means that you should apply about 5V to Vcc1
and whatever voltage required by the motor (upto 36V max for this IC) to Vcc2.
Each Half H-Bridge has an individual Ground. So you must ground the terminal
corresponding to the Half H-Bridge you want to use or else you can also just
ground all the 4 terminals.
Each Half H-Bridge has an Input (A) and output (Y). Also there are enable pins to
turn on the Half H-Bridges. (if 1,2EN (Pin1) is given +5V, then the 1 and 2 Half HBridges are turned on. If Pin1 is Ground, then the 1 and 2 Half H-Bridges are
disabled. Similar for 3,4EN).

Once a Half H-bridge is enabled, it truth table is as follows:

Input A
L
H

Output Y
L
H

INPUT 1A

INPUT 2A

OUTPUT 1Y

OUTPUT 2Y

L
L
H
H

L
H
L
H

L
L
H
H

L
H
L
H

Description
Braking (both terminals of
motor are Gnd)
Forward Running
Backward Running
Braking (both terminals of
motor at Vcc2)

So you just give a High level when you want to turn the Half H-Bridge on and
Low level when you want to turn it off. When the Half H-Bridge is on, the
voltage at the output is equal to Vcc2. If you want to make a Full H-Bridge,
you connect the motor (or the load) between the outputs of two Half HBridges and the inputs will be the two inputs of the Half H-Bridges. Suppose
we have connected Half H-Bridges 1 and 2 to form a Full H-Bridge. Now the
truth table is as follows:

CRYSTAL OSCILLATOR
A crystal oscillator is an electronic circuit that uses the mechanical resonance
of a vibrating crystal of piezoelectric material to create an electrical signal
with a very precise frequency. This frequency is commonly used to keep track
of time (as in quartz wristwatches), to provide a stable clock signal for digital
integrated
circuits,
and
to
stabilize
frequencies
for
radio
transmitters/receivers.

DTMF DECORDER MT8870

The MT8870 is a complete DTMF receiver integrating both the band split filter
and digital decoder functions. The filter section uses switched capacitor
techniques for high and low group filters; the decoder uses digital counting
techniques to detect and decode all 16 DTMF tone pairs into a 4-bit code.
External component count is minimized by on chip provision of a differential
input amplifier, clock oscillator and latched three-state bus interface. More
information please refer Data sheet 0f MT8870
LM7805 (3 TERMINAL VOLTAGE REGULATER)
This is used to make the stable voltage of +5V for U2 (MCU). The LM7805 is
three terminal positive regulators are available in the TO-220/D-PAK package
and with several fixed output voltages, making them useful in a wide range of
applications. Each type employs internal current limiting, thermal shut down and

safe operating area protection, making it essentially indestructible. If adequate

heat sinking is provided, they can deliver over 1A output current. Although
designed primarily as fixed voltage regulators, More information please refer
Data sheet 0f LM7805

FUNCTIONAL DECODE TABLE

L=LOGIC LOW, H=LOGIC HIGH, Z=HIGH IMPEDANCE
X = DONT CARE
Digit TOE
ANY
L
1
H
2
H
3
H
4
H
5
H
6
H
7
H
8
H
9
H
0
H
*
H
#
H
A
H
B
H
C
H
D
H

INH
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
L
L
L
L

E-st
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
.

Q4
Z
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
0

Q3
Z
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
0
0
0
0
1
1
1
1
0

Q2 Q1
Z
Z
0
1
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
1
1
0
1
1
0
0

ASSEMBLY INSTRUCTIONS
Use the component overlay on the PCB to place the components starting with
the lowest height components first. Make sure that the diode, LED and
electrolytic capacitors are inserted the right way around.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Resistors and diodes

IC sockets
LED s
Ceramic capacitors. And crystal
Electrolytic capacitors. Make sure you insert them the correct way around.
LM7805 regulators. Use needle nosed pliers to bend the leads of the
regulator. It does not require a heat sink. Screw down onto to PCB.

FINAL TESTING

In order to control the robot, you need to make a call to the cell phone attached
to the robot (through head phone) from am phone, which send-DTMF tunes on
pressing the numeric buttons. The cell phone in the robot is kept in 'auto
answer' mode. (If the mobile does not have the auto answering facility, receive
the call by 'OK' key on the robot connected mobile and then made it in handsfree mode.) So after a ring, the cell phone accepts the call.
Now you ma)' press any button on your mobile to perform actions as listed in
Table 2. The DTMF tones thus produced are received by the cell phone in the
robot. These tones are fed to the circuit by the headset of the cell phone. The
MT8870 decodes the received tone and sends the equivalent binary number to
the microcontroller. According to the program in the microcontroller, the robot
starts moving.
When you press key '2', Port pins P0.0 and P0.3 are high. The high output at
P0.0 and P0.3 of the microcontroller drives the motor driver (L293D). Port pins
P0.0 and P0.3 drive motors Ml and M2 in forward direction. Similarly, motors Ml
and M2 move for left turn, right turn, backward motion and stop condition as per
Table 2
MECHANICAL CONSTRUCTION
When constructing any robot, one major mechanical constraint is the number of
motors being used. You can have either a two-wheel drive or a four-wheel drive.
Though four-wheel drive is more complex than two-wheel drive, it provides more
torque and good control. Two-wheel drive, on the other hand, is very easy to
construct.
FURTHER IMROVEMENTS & FUTURE SCOPE
1. IR Sensors:
IR sensors can be used to automatically detect & avoid obstacles if the robot
goes beyond line of sight. This avoids damage to the vehicle if we are
maneuvering it from a distant place.
2. 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. Either cell phone should be
password protected or necessary modification should be made in the assembly
language code. This introduces conditioned access & increases security to a
great extent.
3. Alarm Phone Dialer:
By replacing DTMF Decoder IC CM8870 by a 'DTMF Transceiver IC CM8880,
DTMF tones can be generated from the robot. So, a project called 'Alarm Phone
Dialer' can be built which will generate necessary alarms for something that is
desired to be monitored (usually by triggering a relay). For example, a high
water alarm, low temperature alarm, opening of back window, garage door, etc.

When the system is activated it will call a number of programmed numbers to

let the user know the alarm has been activated. This would be great to get alerts
of alarm conditions from home when user is at work.
4. Adding a Camera:
If the current project is interfaced with a camera (e.g. a Webcam) robot can be
driven beyond line-of-sight & range becomes practically unlimited as GSM
networks have a very large range.

Connect cell phone

Handset speaker

cell phone
1(Rx)

R-motor

L-motor

Moto
r

12

Frequenc
y
Decoder

Power
Supply

89Sxx

Buzzer
driver

SensorSensor
-1
-2

BZ1

5V

LED
indicatio