Design of Touch Screen Based Robot with Obstacle

Detection Module for Autonomous Path Navigation

Sateesh Reddy Avutu
Research Scholar,IEEE Member
Biomedical Engineering Dept
North-Eastern Hill University
Shillong, Meghalaya ,India
sateeshreddy.eldt@gmail.com
Dinesh Bhatia*
Associate Professor and Head
Biomedical Engineering Dept
North-Eastern Hill University
Shillong, Meghalaya ,India
bhatiadinesh@rediffmail.com
B. Venkateswara Reddy
Associate Professor and Head
Dept of ECE
Vikas college of Engineering &
Technololgy, Nunna,Vijayawada.
bheemireddyv@gmail.com

Abstract Autonomous path navigation is the best known
method for indoor navigation. This paper proposes a novel
design of an autonomous path navigation robot based on the
touch screen. The robot has the capability to move from specific
location to any other chosen location that can be customized with
a fixed path. The current position of the robot is displayed on the
touch screen. Once user touches specific part of the screen, the
device motors would get activated and it will start to move
towards its destination based on the fixed route map in the
program. In case of unknown environments user can move in any
direction by touching the direction keys or turning keys of the
touch screen. The ultrasonic sensors will provide information
regarding path clearance to the robot. If any obstacle in its path,
the robot can adjust itself till it locates obstacle clear path. The
calculated results depict the robustness of the touch-screen based
robot with obstacle detection module. Based on these results, it is
ensured that the proposed method can be used for different
applications where the autonomous path navigation is needed.
Keywords Autonomous path, Navigation, Touch-Screen, Motor
control , obstacle detection, Ultrasonic sensor.
I. INTRODUCTION
Autonomous path navigation has been used in several
fields such as navigation in a shopping complex, indoors,
hotels by elderly and differently abled persons [1]. Path
navigation can be broadly classified as global and local path
navigation. The navigation in known environment is treated as
global path and the navigation in unknown environment is
treated as local path. Autonomous path navigation needs an
algorithm which will provide the accurate and reliable results.
The algorithms such as Graph searching techniques and road
map approaches [2] can be used for global path navigation,
soft computing techniques and intelligent control systems [3]
can be used for local path navigation. The design of the local-
path navigation system is complex and involves gathering the
environmental data from the multiple sensors in order to
provide collision free path navigation. The user has to control
the motor movement by using the switch or joy stick.
In proposed project, the design of touch-screen based
robot with obstacle detection module for autonomous path
navigation capable of performing movement as per user need.
The robot discussed in the paper has been designed using the
touch screen, arduino board and infrared sensors. It is easy to
customize the route map for known environment and for un-
known environments the user can control the movement by
touching the directions or rotation keys of the touch screen. It
is easy for any user to operate and control when compared
with the other movement controlling methods.
The rest of the paper will be organized as follows. Section-
II explains about the overview of the local path navigation
algorithms and overview of the related work. The detailed
explanation of the proposed methodology is given in the
section III. The calculated result of the proposed method is
explained in the section IV. The overall conclusions and
limitations of touch screen based robot and its future work are
discussed in the section V.
II. RELATED WORK
A. Overview of the local path navigation.
The local path navigation can be achieved through
trajectory path tracking and obstacle avoidance module. The
combination of user inputs, list of parameters and constraints
can make path trajectory. The three important steps in the
trajectory planning are:-
Identify the kind of movement required, i.e.,
Linear movement or angular movement.
Identify the kind of path, i.e., point to point or
travel through points.
Identify the shortest path in case of multiple paths
between the source and destination.
The sensors are used to make the obstacle avoidance
module. The two steps involved in making the obstacle
detection module are:-
The sensor should be capable to identify any kind
of obstacles in its path.
It should send the obstacle information to control
unit at appropriate time.

This work is supported under Visvesvaraya PhD Scheme

by The Department of Electronics and Information
Technology(DietY), Ministry of Communications and IT,
GoI.
B. Overview of the related work
K.K.D.K.U. Weerasinghe, L.C.J. Silva et al [4] designed Touch screens technologies can be classified [10] as
mapping and path planning for long distance autonomous Resistive, Capacitive, Surface Acoustic Wave and Infrared.
navigation using multisensory data employing Simultaneous Among these technologies four wire Resistive touch screen
localization and mapping (SLAM) along with G mapping was chosen because it is easy available in the market. It was
algorithm. These algorithms are not suited for autonomous made by combining two conductive surfaces separated by
indoor navigation. Roie Melamed [5] explained about the minute insulation layer dots. Once the pressure was applied
challenges and opportunities in the field indoor localization. using finger or stylus, the current conduction takes place in
Syed Abdullah Fadzil, Sani Iyal Abdulkadir et al [6] proposed each layer, based on the conduction it will produce numeric
Dijkstras algorithm in the paper Robotic indoor path value. The numeric value produced by the each layer can be
planning using Dijkstras algorithm with multi-layer named as X and Y respectively. Based on the X and Y values
dictionaries but this algorithm is employed to find the the touch screen was partitioned into different equal locations.
shortest path between the source and destination. This
algorithm is suited for global path planning. Arduino board was used as central processing unit for
Eduardo Coronel, Alexis Pojomovsky et al [7] discussed this robot. It takes the input from touch screen and ultrasonic
about the path extraction algorithm (PEA) and Environment sensor and produces output signal to control the robot wheels.
extraction algorithm in the paper Reliable navigation-path The X1, X2, Y1 and Y2 pins of the touch screen are connected
extraction system for an autonomous mobile vehicle. They to A0, A1, A2 and A3 pins of the Arduino board respectively.
used 2D laser scanner and image processing technique which Ultrasonic sensor is used to detect the obstacles in the path. It
may increase the cost the hardware module. Lucas P.N. consists of four pins namely VCC, GND, Trig and Echo.
Matias, Jefferson R. Souza et al [8] discussed about the These pins are connected to +5V, GND, Digital Pin7 and pin8
adaptive Monte Carlo localization algorithm in the paper path of the Arduino board respectively. The different views of the
planning and Autonomous navigation using AMCL and AD*. robot with all components ready to use is as shown in the
Rahul Shivaji Pol, M. Murugan [9] explained about the below figure 2.
various algorithms used in robot navigation in the paper A
review on Indoor Human Aware Autonomous mobile robot
navigation through a dynamic environment.
Top View
III. PROPOSED METHODOLOGY
In this work, we introduce a novel idea to integrate
both global path navigation and local path navigation with
touch screen based system. The touch screen area was
partitioned in parts based on the number of locations, four
directions namely left, right, front, back and three turns
namely, turn left 900, turn right 900 and turn1800. Each part
was treated as single location and task which has its own X
and Y coordinate value. The arduino board was used to
program the route map between the source and destination.
The robot performance was discussed in the conclusion
section for various locations in the laboratory. The different
components used and how they are synchronized to make the
robot is shown in figure-1.
Front View

Figure 1 Block diagram of the proposed method.

 interval of 2 sec the screen will display as waiting for data.
Rear View The user has to provide the input by touching any block on the
touch screen as desired. After receiving the input signal from
the touch screen, the processor will send the control signal to
the motor wheels for:

Time duration to reach destination.

Direction towards which the wheel needs to be
rotated.

During this period, if any interrupting signal from

Figure 2 Different views of the Robot.
LCD module was used to display the current position
of the robot and control action taken by the processor. The
route map for the robot is as shown in the figure 3.
Ultrasonic sensor is received, the processor will send the
control signal to rotate one motor and make one semi circle on
its own axes while another motor remains in off mode.
Similarly, it is repeated for the second motor while the first
motor stays in off position. By doing this the robot will be
displaced either left or right by two times of the distance
between the two rear wheels of the robot. If the left motor did
semi circle movement then the robot will be displaced to right
on its own reference axes and vice versa. The displacement is
equal to two times of the distance between rear wheels of the
robot. This movement would support robot to make the
obstacle free path during the journey. The algorithm employed
is shown in the figure 4.

Fig 3 Route map for various rooms the department.

The Route map indicates the distance between the

various rooms in the department. The time required by the
robot to reach from source to destination was calculated by
using mathematical relation between angular velocity, distance
travelled, time taken to travel the distance, and linear velocity.
The equations are as shown below.

v = dn/60 --------------- (1)

v = x/t --------------- (2)

v = Liner speed of the Robot wheel (m/sec)

= Constant.
d = Diameter of the Robot wheel. (meter)
n = Angular speed of the robot motor (rpm)

Once the power supply was on, Touch Screen Fig 4 Algorithm to control the robot
Interfacing was displayed on the LCD Screen. After and
 IV. RESULTS Specific part
of the touch Action done
The required calculations are made to design the proposed
route map for the robot. Table 1 explains the assigned X and screen
Y values of the touch screen for various locations of indoor Right The robot will turn right by 900 then it
system and for different directions such as front, back, left, will move in right direction.
right and for turnings like turn right 900/ turn left 900/ turn Turn R - 900 The robot will turn right by 900.
1800/ stop. Table 2 explains the required time to travel from Turn L - 900 The robot will turn left by 900.
source to destination for free path navigation. Table 3 Turn - 1800 The robot will turn by 1800.
explains the action done when specific part was touched. Stop The robot will stop.
Table 1 X and Y Coordinate Values for each part.
V. CONCLUSIONS AND FUTURE WORK
Part Name X Value Y Value
1) Conclusion
Room - 1 30 63 134 151
Room - 2 50 64 159 168 From the table and experiments performed in the
Room - 3 85 104 157168 laboratory, it can be concluded that, the proposed method for
Room - 4 122 140 117 130 robot based obstacle detection module for autonomous path
Front 104 128 134 152 navigation produced 95% accurate results. It can be used
Back 143 157 85 104 where the point to point navigation is required on regular basis
Left 127 145 111 134 say in an indoor system. Limitation of the proposed design
Right 152 173 35 74 was that the accuracy will depend the motor response time and
Turn R - 900 135 151 33 83 intensity of the touch provided by the user. If the intensity of
Turn L - 900 25 52 175 98 the touch varies or programming is inappropriate it may lead
Turn - 1800 45 68 100 78 to faulty navigation.
Stop 70 180 65 110
2) Future work
In this paper, we presented the design and calculated
Table 2 Required time to travel.
results by employing resistive touch screen. Implementation of
Source Distance to Required time to this design using different touch screen technologies, their
Desti- comparison in combination with touch based display system
be travelled travel
nation would be explored in future to study accuracy, reliability and
(m) (sec)
Room - 2 100 181.818 user comfort for the device.
Room
Room - 3 220 400.000
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Room - 4 220 400.000
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