International Journal of Electronic Engineering Research

ISSN 0975 - 6450 Volume 2 Number 3 (2010) pp. 349–355

© Research India Publications
http://www.ripublication.com/ijeer.htm

Mobile Controlled Robot using DTMF Technology

for Industrial Application

1
D. Manojkumar, 2P. Mathankumar, 3E. Saranya and 4S. Pavithradevi
1
Project guide- Lecturer/ECE, 2,3,4,5 Final ECE,
Velalar College of Engineering & Technology, Erode, India
E-mail: mapsece@gmail.com

Abstract

In this project, we present controlling of a Robot using DTMF technique.

The robot is controlled by a mobile phone that makes call to the other
mobile phone attached to the robot. In the course of the call, if any button
is pressed, tone corresponding to the button pressed is heard at the other
end of the call. This tone is called dual tone multi frequency tone (DTMF).
Using DTMF code, direction of motion of the robot can be controlled by
mobile phone. Robot has a RF camera that transmits an actual video at the
operator’s monitor. Based on the received video, the corresponding
comments can be passed from the mobile phone which is connected with
the transmitter side. The comments will be converted to voice using the text
to speech converter at the receiver side. The voice will be heard via the
loud speaker attached to the robot. Gas sensor and smoke sensor are also
interfaced with the robot. In case of any smoke or gas, the sensor senses the
gas or smoke and passes the signal to the alarm. The alarm sound is heard
via a loud speaker.

Keywords: Mobile phones, DTMF decoder, controller, RF camera, TV

monitor.

Introduction
Being able to achieve reliable communication is an important open area of research to
robotics as well as other technology areas. As interest in robotics continues to grow,
robots are increasingly being integrated in everyday life. The results of this
integration are end-users possessing less and less technical knowledge of the
technology. Currently, the primary mode for robot communication uses RF (radio
frequency). RF is an obvious choice for communication since it allows more
350 D. Manojkumar et al

information to be transferred at smaller distance. The overall goal of the project is to

control robot over a long distance using DTMF technology efficiently.

Description
The transmitter side is placed in the area which is to be supervised. The receiver
section is placed in the operator side which receives the video from the corresponding
area.

Figure 1: Block diagram of mobile controlled robot.

PIC16F877A
PIC16F877A consists of high performance RISC CPU in which there are only 35
single word instructions to learn. All are single cycle instructions except for program
branches, which are two cycles. Up to 8K x 14 words of FLASH Program Memory,
368 x 8 bytes of data Memory (RAM) and 256 x 8 bytes of EEPROM Data Memory
are available.PIC16F877A is a 40 pin microcontroller
The peripheral features includes a Timer0 which is an 8-bit timer/counter with an
8-bit prescaler, a Timer1 which is a 16-bit timer/counter with prescaler which can be
incremented during SLEEP via external crystal/clock, a Timer2 which is an 8-bit
timer/counter with 8-bit period register, prescaler and postscaler, two capture,
compare, PWM modules. The capture is 16-bit and its maximum resolution is
12.5ns.Compare is 16-bit and its maximum resolution is 200ns.PWM‘s maximum
resolution is 10-bit.There is a Synchronous Serial Port (SSP) with SPI (Master mode)
and I2C (Master/Slave).Further PIC16F877A consists of an Universal Synchronous
Asynchronous Receiver Transmitter (USART/SCI) with 9-bit address detection.
Parallel Slave Port (PSP) is 8-bits wide, with external RD, WR and CS controls
(40/44-pin only).
Mobile Controlled Robot using DTMF Technology 351

The analog features of PIC16F877A includes a 10-bit, up to 8 channel Analog-to-

Digital Converter (A/D), a Brown-out Reset (BOR) and an analog comparator module
with two analog comparators, programmable on-chip voltage reference (VREF)
module, programmable input multiplexing from device inputs and internal voltage
reference. Comparator outputs are externally accessible.

DTMF Tone
The DTMF technique outputs distinct representation of 16 common alphanumeric
characters (0-9, A-D, *, #) on the telephone. The lowest frequency used is 697Hz and
the highest frequency used is 1633Hz, as shown in Table 1.

Table 1: DTMF Keypad.

The DTMF keypad is arranged such that each row will have its own unique tone
frequency and also each column will have its own unique tone frequency. Above is a
representation of the typical DTMF keypad and the associated row/column
frequencies. By pressing a key, for example 5, will generate a dual tone consisting of
770 Hz for the low group and 1336 Hz for the high group.

DTMF Decoder
The MT-8870 is a DTMF Receiver that integrates both band split filter and decoder
functions into a single 18-pin DIP or SOIC package. It is manufactured using CMOS
process technology. The MT-8870 offers low power consumption (35 mW max) and
precise data handling.

Figure 2: Pin configuration of MT-8870.

352 D. Manojkumar et al

Its filter section uses switched capacitor technology for both the high and low
group filters and for dial tone rejection. Its 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 provision of an on-chip differential input amplifier, clock
generator, and latched tri-state interface bus. Minimal external components required
includes a low-cost 3.579545 MHz color burst crystal, a timing resistor, and a timing
capacitor.
The filter section is used for separation of the low-group and high group tones and
it is achieved by applying the DTMF signal to the inputs of two sixth order switched
capacitor band pass filters, the bandwidths of which corresponds to the low and high
group frequencies. The filter section also incorporates notches at 350 and 440 Hz for
exceptional dial tone rejection. Each filter output is followed by a single order
switched capacitor filter section which smoothes the signals prior to limiting. Limiting
is performed by high-gain comparators which are provided with hysteresis to prevent
detection of unwanted low-level signals. The outputs of the comparators provide full
rail logic swings at the frequencies of the incoming DTMF signals.
Following the filter section is a decoder employing digital counting techniques to
determine the frequencies of the incoming tones and to verify that they correspond to
the standard DTMF frequencies.

Text To Speech Converter

The integrated text-to-speech processor consists of high voice quality and unlimited
vocabulary. It converts any ASCII text into speech automatically, it is capable of very
high reading rates, it can add/modify messages by simply editing a text file and it has
on-the-fly control of speed, pitch, volume, etc. The converted voice from the text to
speech converter is heard via the loudspeaker. The loudspeaker is interfaced with the
robot.
The text to speech converter is mainly used in Robotics, ATM machines, Vending
and ticketing machines, remote diagnostic reporting, Dial-up information systems,
Electronic test and measurement, Security systems.

Figure 3: Pin configuration of L293D.

Mobile Controlled Robot using DTMF Technology 353

The RC8660 provides text-to-speech conversion with its integrated Doubletalk

text-to-speech synthesizer. Any English text written to the RC8660 is automatically
converted into speech. Commands can be embedded in the input stream to
dynamically control the voice even at the phoneme level (phonemes are the basic
sound units of speech). An integrated nonvolatile memory area is provided for storing
a custom pronunciation dictionary, allowing the pronunciation of any character string
to be redefined. Up to 33 minutes of recorded messages and sound effects can be
stored in the RC8660 for on-demand playback. Recordings are stored in on-chip flash
memory, providing zero-power message storage. Additionally, the RC8660 can play
8-bit PCM and ADPCM audio in real time such as speech and/or sound effects stored
in an external memory or file system. The RC8660 includes an integrated DTMF
(Touch-Tone) generator. This is useful in telephony applications where standard
DTMF tones are used to signal a remote receiver, modem, or access the public
switched telephone network.

Motor Driver Circuit

L293D is a dual H-Bridge motor driver. So with one IC, two DC motors can be
interfaced which can be controlled in both clockwise and counter clockwise directions
and its direction of motion can also be fixed. The four I/O’s can be used to connect up
to four DC motors. L293D has output current of 600mA and peak output current of
1.2A per channel. Moreover for the protection of the circuit from back EMF, output
diodes are included within the IC. The output supply (VCC2) has a wide range from
4.5V to 36V, which has made L293D a best choice for DC motor driver.
The name "H Bridge" is derived from the actual shape of the switching circuit
which controls the motion of the motor. It is also known as "Full Bridge".

Figure 4: H-Bridge motor driver circuit.

By using two motors the robot can be moved in any direction. This steering
mechanism of the robot is called differential drive.
354 D. Manojkumar et al

Table 2: Robot movement.

Left Motor Right Motor Robot Movement

Straight Straight Straight
Stop Straight Left
Reverse Straight Sharp Left
Straight Stop Right
Straight Reverse Sharp Right
Reverse Reverse Reverse

RF Camera
RF camera consists of a 2.4GHz Audio/Video wireless RF Transmitter.
The most popular 2.4GHz ISM band is used and it is designed with high reliability.
Airwave RF module is compliance with the criteria of FCC and R&TTE which can
transmit a wide band audio & video signals up to 100 meters in an open area. RF
camera is of compact size and it consumes a low power. RF camera is composed of a
highly efficient FM-FM modulation/demodulation scheme. No external audio circuit
is needed. The number of Channels selected is four and default value is ch4 (not
enable). Other channels can be selected by applying low to enable.

RF Transmitter
RF transmitter transmits video and sound to the RF receiver which is connected to the
TV located anywhere (up to 100 ft. away).The RF transmitter consists of a wireless
2.4 GHz technology which is combined with a wireless power source that produces a
video without any delay.

RF Receiver
The RF Video Receiver works with Wireless Cameras. The Camera converts video
into wireless radio frequency (RF) signals and transmits them to the Video Receiver
which is connected to a TV anywhere (up to 100 ft. away from the Camera). The
Video Receiver converts the signals back to video signals, which are fed through a
cable to our TV's Video input jack.

Sensors
The gas and smoke sensors are interfaced with the robot. A gas detector is a device
which detects the presence of various gases within an area. It acts as a part of the
system to warn about gases that might be harmful to humans and animals. Gas
detectors can be used to detect combustible, toxic oxygen and CO2 gases. This device
may be used in firefighting. Laboratories, MRI rooms, pharmaceutical,
semiconductor, and cryogenic suppliers commonly use the gas detectors.
Smoke detectors are typically housed in a disk-shaped plastic enclosure about
150 millimeters (6 in) in diameter and 25 millimeters (1 in) thick. The radiation
produced by fire passes through an ionization chamber, an air-filled space between
two electrodes, and permits a small, constant current between the electrodes. Any
Mobile Controlled Robot using DTMF Technology 355

smoke that enters the chamber absorbs the alpha particles, which reduces the
ionization and interrupts this current, setting off the alarm.

Conclusion & Future Scope

So far the present system is designed mainly for the supervision applications. In the
area of suspectance, the robot can be directed and if any smoke or gas is identified the
robot can produce alarm and also informs the operator. The comments from the
operator can also be transmitted to the area where the robot moves. Further the key
board can be interfaced with the TV connected at receiver side to increase the number
of comments given to the robot. Amplifier is needed to be connected to the speaker of
the mobile interfaced with the robot to pass the comments directly through mobile
from the remote mobile. The RF camera can be replaced with the 3G mobile for long
distance communication. The above system can also used for military purpose as
bomb detection and as spy robot.

References
[1] www.datasheetarchive.com/MT8870-datasheet.html
[2] www.microchip.com
[3] ”Feasibility Study of DTMF Communications for Robots”, UWEE Technical
Report, Number UWEETR-2004-0013, April 6, 2004.
[4] www.nex-robotics.com/.../motor-controllers/l293d-motor-driver-ic.html
[5] www.ccsrobotics.com
[6] www.active-robots.com/.../av-modules.shtml - United Kingdom
[7] www.spyville.com/camera-detector.html
[8] “Robots, Androids, and Animations 12 Incredible Projects You Can Build” by
John Iovine Second Edition McGraw-Hill.
[9] “PDA Robotics Using Your Personal Digital Assistant to Control Your Robot”
by Douglas H. Williams McGraw-Hill.
[10] “Remote robot control system based on DTMF of mobile phone” published
in 6th IEEE International Conference.
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