Telepresence Robot

Project Title

Telepresence Robot

Project Area of Specialization RoboticsProject Summary

A telepresence robot is a custom-built robot system specifically designed for augmented Telepresence with assisted control. It allows the user to remotely interact with other users and provides effective communication. An Arduino mega2560 is used for controlling purposes and for processing using the application of its features. The main objective of our robot is to develop a fully robotic platform that pairs with an Android phone or tablet. Telepresence robots can be deployed in a wide range of application domains. A Telepresence robot is a computer, tablet, or Smartphone-controlled robot, which includes a video camera, screen, speakers, and microphones so that people interacting with the robot can view and hear its operator and the operator can simultaneously view what the robot is “looking” at and "hearing."

Project Objectives

For the circulation time that may kill while delivering important information’s Our Robot can travel to every classroom for distribution of the memo which has to be circulated regularly. For example Holiday circulars, the announcement of timetables, etc.

As the human counting in the storehouse will not be accurate, our robot will make sure that there will be no hassle in noting down the information of the materials and also keeps a clean record of it. This Robot is flexible, portable and a versatile solution for counting the number of objects in a store.

Instantly meet with coworkers for crucial conversations and just log in and be there as you would be in person. Being with your co-workers in a conference meeting means a telepresence robot is the only best thing than actually being there when you are not well.

Project Implementation Method

The 1st stage of project hardware is the power supply. Rechargeable batteries are used in the power supply to store power. This is charged up by connecting to a 12V charger. The navigation circuit is the one that controls the movement of the robot. The directional data is sent to the navigation circuit. It is processed by the Arduino and then provided to the driver IC which drives the gear motor in the required direction. This operation can be controlled by the transfer of data through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth or RF modules as transmitter and receiver. The casing to hold the gear motors, servo motors, camera, and Raspberry Pi was made intact.

The next main procedure is the setting up of the Raspberry Pi. The initial configurations are done. The board is connected to the Wi-Fi. An IP address is programmed and set up which links to the Raspberry Pi. The video that is captured by the camera is sent over to the Wi-Fi modem. The modem creates a LAN where both the smartphone and the Raspberry Pi are connected. It is through this LAN that the data (head movement and video) is shared. This transmitted output can be viewed by connecting the smartphone or the laptop to the same Wi-Fi connection and IP address. This transmitted output is viewed in a smartphone placed in the VR headset. The smartphone is switched to dual screen mode for this purpose.

The project also has the feature of letting the user experience virtual reality by swinging the VR headset. The smartphone reads the accelerometer and magnetometer data of the direction in which the user had turned. This data is sent to the modem over Wi-Fi and to the Raspberry Pi board which in turn provides these values as input to the servo motor. There are two servo motors which are used to move the camera. One for the vertical and the other for the horizontal movement.

Benefits of the Project

Telepresence robots enable their users to remotely interact with and observe the people & their surroundings without being physically present there themselves, Telepresence robots have the potential to add mobility and adaptability to traditional modes of video conferencing, They are used in the everyday activities of companies and business.

Telepresence robot decreases corporate travel costs, It reduces the fatigue occasioned by long journeys for work, It makes telework easier, It reduces CO2 emissions, It allows the people unavoidably elsewhere to be virtually present at meetings/in the office and it offers lots of future potentials, The use of telepresence robots will increase new creative applications for the technology.

A telepresence robot is used for multiple purposes, it has the ability to be virtually present in another place, There are different models, Telepresence robots can be found not only in offices and factories but in the hospitals, nursing homes, schools, colleges, real estate agencies, museums, at trade fairs and, increasingly, in homes.

Telepresence robots are one of the robotics categories with the greatest diversity of products, They offer an alternative to be considered in cases where the travel involved for meetings or visits to the branches of a more routine nature, They can be used in the factory inspection tours, without the inspector having to be present on the ground.

There are many opportunities for using telepresence devices in sectors such as retail, customer services, education & healthcare, Telepresence robots are the new wave of tech in the workplace Telecommunications, They have made significant changes to the workplace, many employees & managers can work from home or other remote locations, Telepresence robots are very useful to the work-life balance & increase the productivity.

The most common form of the telepresence robot is the tablet on a Segway or iPad on a stick, These devices are quite simple in appearance, The tablet set on the shaft at about head height, connected to the wheeled base, Some robots have additional cameras or audio equipment attached to the shaft.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

The Telepresence robot is mainly built with a screen that is mounted on a chassis and is controlled with Arduino mega 2560. The movement of the robot is automatic and also can be controlled by the wifi module through the local host for long-range interaction. Raspberry Pi with the camera is used for conferencing purposes. The main components gathered are Arduino mega 2560, raspberry pi, wireless camera, relay, encoder motor, IR sensors, and voice input module. After the connection was complete, testing of the setup was done to make sure that it could be controlled. To control the server, a local server is used to catch the user-initiated events. Our main focus was on artificial intelligence to improve the user experience. While the robot is navigating if any obstacle appears it counts and the robot stops and produces a beep sound and moves to the destination. The navigation of the robot can be controlled by the wifi module. The navigation path can also be projected to the user. The robot moves and circulates the circular or the voice input given to it and delivers it to the classrooms. The robot senses the sensor and stops and takes the turn and produces the message in the class. To produce the message firstly the voice input module is required to store the voice information. For commercial purposes, it can be used in the storehouses where the products are counted which are placed and the IR sensor senses it and thus sends the obstacles reading and displays the count on the LCD. The third one is video conferencing which can be done in the workplace where a person can sit far away and can handle the important meetings with the virtual presence with the help of this robot. The LCD is mounted on the chassis with a certain height where the conferencing of the video is built. Finally coming to the chassis portion a lot of things had to be considered like the height, the weight of the setup so that the robot could balance and conveniently accommodates the components on it. Balancing the robot on two wheels is also the challenge that had to be faced that has to be provided to prevent it from tilting the setup

Final Deliverable of the Project HW/SW integrated systemCore Industry TelecommunicationOther Industries IT Core Technology RoboticsOther Technologies Internet of Things (IoT)Sustainable Development Goals Industry, Innovation and InfrastructureRequired Resources

Item Name	Type	No. of Units	Per Unit Cost (in Rs)	Total (in Rs)
			Total in (Rs)	69275
Arduino Mega	Equipment	5	2000	10000
Arduino UNO	Equipment	3	1000	3000
Motor driver	Equipment	4	500	2000
Geared motors	Equipment	6	600	3600
Mobile phone	Equipment	2	15000	30000
Ultrasonic liquid level sensor	Equipment	4	2000	8000
Battery protection module	Equipment	2	350	700
Battery cell	Equipment	12	200	2400
Node MCU	Equipment	4	800	3200
Cables, types, button, and other all parts	Equipment	15	425	6375