UNIVERSITI TEKNIKAL MALAYSIA MELAKA
BLUETOOTH CONTROLLED STAIRS CLIMBING ROBOT
This report submitted in accordance with requirement of University Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM) for the Bachelor of Manufacturing Engineering (Robotic and
Automation) with Honours.
By
SYAZWAN AKMAL BIN SUMAIDI
ABSTRACT
ABSTRAK
DEDICATION
To my parents, Sumaidi Sukarso and Rohaidah Hassan; Supervisor, Pn. Syamimi Bt Shamsuddin;
Co-supervisor, En. Muhamad Arfauz bin Abdul Rahman; Girlfriend, Nor Hayati Nadzli;
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
TABLE OF CONTENT
List Abbreviations xiv
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Project Background 1
1.2 Problems Statement 2
1.3 Project Aim and Objectives 2
1.4 Project Scopes 3
1.5 Project Benefits 3
1.6 Project Planning 4
2. LITERATURE REVIEW 7
2.3 Mobile Robot Components 19
2.3.3.1 Nickel Cadmium 33
2.3.3.2Nickel Metal Hydride 36
2.3.3.3 Lithium-Ion 38
2.3.3.4Lead-Acid 39
2.3.4 Communication 41
2.3.4.1 Radio Frequency 41
2.3.4.2 Bluetooth Technology 43
2.3.4.3 ZigBee 48
2.3.5 Brain 53
2.3.5.1 Programmable logic controller 54
2.3.5.2 Microcontroller 57
2.5.1 A Study on a Wheel-Based Stair-Climbing Robot With
a Hopping Mechanism 66
2.5.2 Innovative Design for Wheeled Locomotion in Rough
Terrain 67
2.5.3 Stable Stairs Climbing in a Simple Hexapod Robot 69
3. METHODOLOGY 73
3.1 Introduction 73
3.2 Flow Chart 73
3.2.1 Identify Problem Statement 75
3.2.2 Research on Stairs Climbing Robot 75
3.2.3 Conceptual Design 75
3.2.4 Design Selection 76
3.2.5 Component Consideration 76
3.2.6 Fabrication 77
3.2.7 Controller Programming 77
3.2.8 Integration 78
3.2.9 Testing 79
3.2.10 Modify 79
3.2.11 Report Presentation 79
3.3 Research and Study Tool 79
3.3.1 SolidWorks Software 80
3.3.2 MPLAB Software 84
3.3.3 BlueSoleil Software 88
3.3.4 Hyper Terminal Software 91
3.3.5 Pugh Method for Decision Making 94
3.4 Summary 95
4. DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT 96
4.1 Designing 97
4.1.1 First Design: Crawler Robot 98
4.1.2 Second Design: Rover Robot 98
4.1.3 Third Design: Crawler-Rover Robot (Hybrid) 101
4.2 Design Selection 103
4.3 Electronic Circuit Diagram 104
4.3.1 Microcontroller Circuit 105
4.3.2 Power supply Circuit 106
4.3.3 Bluetooth Module Circuit 107
4.4 Programming 111
4.5 Mechanical Structure 116
4.5.1 Base 116
4.5.2 Wheels 119
4.5.3 Shafts 121
4.5.4 Synchronize Belt 124
4.6 Parts Assembly 124
4.7 Mechanical Structure Analysis 126
4.7.1 Center of Gravity 127
4.7.2 Force of Climbing 128
4.8 Summary 130
5. TESTING, RESULT AND DISCUSSION 131
5.1 Electronic Circuit Testing 131
5.1.1 Result and Discussion of Electronic Testing 133
5.2 Mechanical Testing 136
5.2.1 Result and Discussion of Mechanical Testing 138
5.3 Summary 141
6. CONCLUSION AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE WORKS 142
6.1 Conclusion 142
6.2 Suggestions for Future Work 143
REFERENCE 146
LIST OF TABLES
1.1 PSM Gantt chart for semester one 5
1.2 PSM Gantt chart for semester two 6
2.1 Bluetooth specs and classes 45
2.2 Comparison between Bluetooth and radio frequency 48 2.3 Comparison between ZigBee and Bluetooth 53
4.1 Pugh method 103
4.2 Bluetooth module pin assignment 108
4.3 Pin Function Description ` 111
LIST OF FIGURES
2.1 Cartesian or X-Y-Z arm robot manipulator 9
2.2 Cylindrical-arm robot manipulator 9
2.3 Polar robot manipulator 10
2.4 Jointed-arm manipulator 11
2.5 Nomad traversing very uneven terrain 12
2.6 The tracked Hobot 13
2.7 Honda biped P3 14
2.8 Robinspec magnetic climbing robot 15
2.9 Sony AIBO Robot Dog 15
2.10 Walking Forest Machine 16
2.11 Robug 4 17
2.12 Wheeleg 18
2.13 Unmanned aerial vehicle 19
2.14 Variety shapes of metal (aluminum) 21
2.15 PVC pipes 23
2.16 Carbon fiber 24
2.17 Wood 25
2.18 DC Motors with Brushes 27
2.19 Brushless DC Motors 29
2.20 DC Stepper Motors 31
2.21 Nickel Cadmium 34
2.22 Nickel Metal Hydride 36
2.23 Lithium-Ion 38
2.24 Lead-Acid 40
2.25 Bluetooth piconet /scatternet topology 47
2.26 ZigBee Network 49
2.27 Mesh Networking Path one 50
2.28 Mesh Networking Path two 51
2.29 The application of ZigBee 52
2.30 Programmable logic controller 54
2.32 Microcontroller 58
2.33 PC-Based Controller 60
2.34 Wheel-based robot with hopping mechanism 67 2.35 Sequences showing the rover climbing a step 68
2.36 Hexapod robot (RHex) 69
2.37 Phases of one complete stair climbing cycle 70 2.38 Phases of one complete stair descending cycle 71
3.1 Process flow of PSM 1 and PSM 2 74
3.2 The flowchart of controller programming 78
3.3 SolidWorks icon 80
3.4 SolidWorks program 80
3.5 Create new document 81
3.6 New SolidWorks document window 81
3.7 Planes in SolidWorks 82
3.8 Drawing icon 82
3.9 Sketch mode 83
3.10 MPLAB icon 83
3.11 Create a new document 83
3.12 Choosing the correct type of microcontroller 84
3.13 Selecting the Active toolsuite 85
3.14 The project name and location window 85
3.15 Proceed to next window 86
3.16 The creation of a new workspace is complete 86
3.17 Add the source file 87
3.18 Add Bluetooth.c to the project 87
3.19 Build the created project 88
3.20 BlueSoleil icon 88
3.21 BlueSoleil window 89
3.22 Bluetooth module is detected 89
3.23 Method of Bluetooth connection 90
3.24 Bluetooth serial port service 90
3.25 Bluetooth connections is on COM4 91
3.27 Making new connection 92
3.28 Serial port connection 92
3.29 Baud rate selection 93
3.30 HyperTerminal interface window 93
4.1 Isometric view of first design: Crawler robot 97 4.2 Isometric view of second design: Rover robot
(before transformation) 99
4.3 Isometric view of the second design: Rover robot
(after transformation) 99
4.4 Robot A with ramp 100
4.5 Robot B without ramp 100
4.6 Isometric view of the third design:
Crawler-rover robot (hybrid) 101
4.7 Bluetooth enable microcontroller circuit diagram 105
4.8 Microcontroller circuit 106
4.9 Power supply 107
4.10 Bluetooth module 108
4.11 Bluetooth module pin connections 109
4.12 Motor driver connection 110
4.13 Program part A 112
4.19 The drilled mild steel hollow square rod 117
4.20(a) The upper rectangle frame 117
4.20(b) The lower rectangle frame 117
4.21 The frame structure of this robot 118
4.22 Exploded view of frame structure 119
4.23 Laser cutting machine 120
4.24 Exploded view of the wheel design 120
4.26 Shafts 121
4.27 Combination of part A and Part B 122
4.28 Exploded view of shaft 122
4.29 Shaft mounted to wheel 123
4.30 Shaft mounted to wheel and motor 123
4.31 Synchronize belt 124
4.32 A complete assembled robot 125
4.33 Exploded view of the complete assembled robot 126
4.34 Robot parameters 127
4.35 Force during climbing 129
5.1 Testing circuit 131
5.2 Input signals keyed by using a keyboard 131
5.3 Keying input forward (key 8) 132
5.4 Forward signal 132
5.5 Keying in input backward (key 2) 133
5.6 Backward signal 133
5.7 Keying in input stop (key 5) 134
5.8 Stop signal 134
5.9 Artificial stairs 135
5.10 Simulation of stairs climbing 136
5.11 First phase 137
6.2 Proximity sensor 143
6.3 Legged locomotion 143
LIST OF ABBREVIATION
AC Alternating current
ADC Analog-to-Digital converter
Al Aluminum
AM Amplitude modulation
CAD Computer aided design
CAE Computer aided engineering CAM Computer aided manufacturing
CATIA Computer Aided Three Dimensional Interactive Application
Cd Cadmium
CPU Central processing unit
C++ A language used in programming
DC Direct current
DWG A file format used for 2 and 3 dimensional design data ECO Engineering change orders
EDR Enhanced Data Rate
FFD Full Function Devices
FM Frequency modulation
HAZ Heat-affecting zone HCI Host Controller Interface
GHz Giga hertz
GPS Global positioning system
Hz Hertz
IBM A company major that manufacturer of computer hardware ISM Industrial Scientific and Medical
I/O Input/output
KOH Potassium hydroxide Mbps Mega bits per second
Ni-Cad Nickel cadmium
PDA Personal digital assistant PLC Programmable logic controller PLM Product lifecycle management
PC Personal computer
PVC Polyvinyl chloride
QoS Quality of Service
RF Radio frequency
RFD Reduced Function Device
SIG Special Interest Group
UART Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter
2D Two dimensional
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION
This chapter is a brief of what actually this whole project is all about and this allows a glimpse of the entire report and provides understanding of the author’s work. This introduction section contains project background, problem statement, project aim and objectives, project scope, project benefits and project planning (using the Gantt chart).
1.1 Project Background
Climbing robot has been a field of increasing activity in the previous years. This can be seen through the research and development of many types of mobile robots such as climbing and walking robot. The example of the previous research and development done by professors, engineers and even scholars are:
a) Hybrid locomotion of a wheel-legged machine by Halme, A. et al that introduce the combination of leg and wheel locomotion to gain effective natural terrain mobility.
b) A Biomimetic Climbing Robot Based on the Gecko by Menon and Sitti (2002) propose a study on climbing locomotion that involved adhesive adopted from gecko lizard.
In this project, the designed climbing robot is for climbing a structured terrain which is a flight of stairs that has six inches of height for each step. It is a manual stairs climbing robot which is control wirelessly by using a Bluetooth module.
1.2 Problem Statement
This stairs climbing robot is actually an improvement version from the previous project of stairs climbing robot in term of design structure, capability and technology. For the design structure, this robot will tackle the critical flaws of previous robot which is the stability. The previous robot is quite small compared to the stairs itself and its shape is not suitable for the steps of stairs therefore maintaining stability would be a major problem for it.
In term of capability, this improved robot should be more reliable compared to previous one. It must be able to climb up more then two steps of stairs and this capability depends on the design structure of the robot. This improved robot utilizes Bluetooth technology in controlling its movement. The Bluetooth technology is low-cost, requires low power, and utilizes a radio-based link which does not require a line-of-sight connection in order to communicate.
1.3 Project Aim and Objectives
The aim of this project is to design and develop a stairs climbing robot. This robot is an improvement compare to the previous project done by a senior student. In order to achieve it, the aim and objectives are:
a) To design, develop and improve the mechanical structure of previous stairs climbing robot.
b) To program the Bluetooth stairs climbing robot microcontroller
1.4 Project Scopes
In this project of stairs climbing robot there are three main scopes that need to be focused on and there are:
a) To used Bluetooth as a medium of transferring and receiving signal for stairs climbing robot in manual mode.
b) To design and develop a stable structure of a climbing robot c) To produce a working robot that can climb stairs.
1.5 Project Benefits
In future, the application of stairs climbing robot can be used as devices that ease human daily life in many ways for example as a medium of transportation to carry heavy load fast and efficiently through stairs which would be a hectic job of an ordinary human. Beside that, this application would give its biggest contribution to the disable people/paralyze, by incorporated this technology into a wheel chair which enable them to climb stairs like any other ordinary person. If there are continuously increasing performance to this robot for higher speed and better motion, soon it can just climb stairs but also go through any terrain that it encounters and this is perfect for military used in combat vehicle.
1.6 Project Planning
