Smart Stair Climbing Vehicle with Self Balancing Mechanism

In the last decade, it is seen that the technology is evolving so fast. Elevators and escalators have became intelligent to save more power and provide ease to the humans. Humans are using these facilities on daily purpose to save time and efforts. At the same time, a disabled person sometimes can n

Project Title

Smart Stair Climbing Vehicle with Self Balancing Mechanism

Project Area of Specialization

Robotics

Project Summary

In the last decade, it is seen that the technology is evolving so fast. Elevators and escalators have became intelligent to save more power and provide ease to the humans. Humans are using these facilities on daily purpose to save time and efforts. At the same time, a disabled person sometimes can not avail these benefits. Due to his impaired mobility, he is not able to reach to the elevators due to the stairs that comes in the way. He needs a human assistance to lift him upstairs or downstairs. 

This project aims to develop a smart stair climbing vehicle with a self-balancing mechanism for easy transportation of heavy load up to 70 kg over the stairs. This is a problem that has been addressed with over the years and hence an extensive literature surveys and ideas have been done to evaluate the existing solutions.

This project deals with designing of a manually operated staircase climber which can be used for both leveled plane as well as for staircases.  The major concern in this project is to provide stability to the person who is travelling in it and simultaneously maintaining the overall centre of gravity as much as possible. Keeping the above-mentioned criteria in mind, most of the calculations are performed and sensor data from the sensors is processed. Self-balancing mechanism is based on linear actuator to provide stability. PID algorithm-based mechanism is designed to provide smooth balancing. Some of the sensors are used to provide ease to the user.

This vehicle is going to help the disabled individuals to climb on stairs with more safety at the same time making the disabled person independent.

Project Objectives

To develop a design of a vehicle that will increase the mobility and functionality in climbing of stairs.

Project Implementation Method

Background:

Different kind of climbing vehicles are available in the market. Some vehicle has star-wheeled mechanism, some has screw-jack mechanism. Goal is to lift the vehicle. The mechanical design that we are offering consist of two major parts. The vehicle lifting part for inclined surface consist of a belt mechanism and the self-balancing part of the load consist of a linear actuator.

Calculation (For climbing of vehicle):

Climbing of upstairs or downstairs requires some power. To climb our vehicle, we are using DC geared motors which can deliver high torque to lift approx. 70 kg of weight. Figure 1 is given below to demonstrate the objective of torque calculation.

The vehicle must move upstairs or downstairs, that means that the wheels of the motors should keep moving even in an inclined surface. To keep the rotation of the motors intact, torque must be enough. Eq. (3.1) is given below which is used to calculate the minimum torque of the motor.

Minimum Torque of DC motor

To calculate the value of torque, assuming the value of mass of approx. 90kg i.e. 70 kg for the load and 20 kg for the vehicle.

Assumptions:

• No slipping between treads and slope
• Stairs are regarded as a slope

Where T is the torque needed for a single DC motor, G is the total weight of the climber machine including the weight of machine and load, ? is the tilt angle of the stairs, F2 is the component force along the stairs, R is the radius of the tracked wheel.

Calculation (For Self-Balancing):

While transporting the load upstairs or downstairs, it is very important to provide safety to the load. Balancing the load while lifting can be addressed by providing a stable platform. We are developing a self-balancing mechanism for the vehicle that will balance its platform and the user will feel more secure on the movement on the inclined surface.

Linear actuator will be fitted at one end of the platform and other end of the platform will be fixed with the hinge iron bearing, that will allow the platform to move up or down from the other end i.e. from the linear actuator. Figure 2 is given below that is showing the mechanism.

Minimum Torque of Linear Actuator:

Below is the Eq (3.3) that is used to calculate the torque of a linear actuator. All the load will be balanced by the motion of this actuator.

T=10kg×9.81ms2×0.25×tan5×sin5

Where T is the torque needed for a single servo motor, G is the weight of the platform and load,? is the tilt angle of the platform, H is the distance between the mass center of load and servo shaft.

Benefits of the Project

Technical Benefits:

• Simple integration of sensors, controller & actuator

• Less power consumption  

Social Benefits:

• Cost Effective

• Stair Climbing Capability (can be used in many hospitals)

• Self-Balancing Chair for the comfort of user 

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

 A remote-control wheelchair that can climb on stairs. It can lift the weight up to 70 kilograms. It has a chair that stabilizes itself and balance the load. It has a headlight that automatically switch ON in the dark. It also has Ultrasonic Sensors that alert any nearby objects (in the forward & backward direction) and an LCD display to show some parameters like battery percentage, emergency alert etc.

Final Deliverable of the Project

HW/SW integrated system

Type of Industry

Manufacturing , Others , Health

Technologies

Robotics, Wearables and Implantables, Others

Sustainable Development Goals

Good Health and Well-Being for People, Reduced Inequality, Life on Land

Required Resources

If you need this project, please contact me on contact@adikhanofficial.com