Build a Sound-Tracking Search and Rescue Robot

Abstract
HELP! Locating survivors trapped under rubble is a difficult and dangerous task. After a natural
disaster, like an earthquake, rescuers must act quickly to save as many lives as possible. They can
use robots with different types of sensors to help find survivors. In this project you will build a sound-
tracking robot that can use two microphones to drive toward a sound source. Designing the robot's
algorithm will be up to you.

Summary
AREAS OF SCIENCE
Robotics

DIFFICULTY

TIME REQUIRED
Short (2-5 days)

PREREQUISITES
Previous experience with Arduino is recommended. See our How to Use an Arduino page.

MATERIAL AVAILABILITY
A kit is available with the robot chassis and circuit parts. Arduino and microphones must be purchased separately.
See Materials section for details.

COST
High ($100 - $150)

SAFETY
No issues

CREDITS
Ben Finio, PhD, Science Buddies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUguvwpnJ5M
Objective
Build a sound-tracking robot and write a program to make it drive toward a sound source.

Introduction
Robots can go places that are dangerous for humans, like damaged buildings that are at risk of
collapse or areas contaminated by radiation or severe pollution. This makes robots useful in search
and rescue situations, especially after natural disasters like earthquakes, hurricanes, and landslides.
Robots like the one in Figure 1 can work alongside human rescue crews to help find survivors.

Figure 1. A robot at an indoor competition designed to simulate finding survivors after an earthquake.

Just as humans use different senses, like sight, sound, and touch, robots can use many types of
electronic sensors to gather information from their environment. They can use cameras and
computer vision to recognize objects. But what about environments where it is difficult to see, like the
rubble of a collapsed building after an earthquake? A robot might have to rely on another type of
sensor to locate people trapped under the rubble—like a microphone to listen for the sound of a
person calling for help.

Most humans can naturally use their two ears to tell which direction a sound is coming from. This is
called binaural hearing. A robot can do the same thing by recording sound in stereo using two
microphones. This works because sound waves travel radially outward from the sound source. As the
waves expand outward, they get quieter. This means that the sound will seem louder to the
microphone closer to the sound source, as shown in Figure 2. The sound will also reach that
microphone slightly before it reaches the farther microphone.

Figure 2. A sound wave expands radially outward from a source toward two microphones. The sound
wave will reach microphone #2 first and will seem louder to microphone #2 than to microphone #1.

While they are represented by lines in Figure 2, sound waves are actually traveling pressure waves.
Air pressure fluctuates above and below the baseline atmospheric pressure as air particles bump
into each other (Figure 3). Larger amplitude fluctuations in pressure result in louder sound, and
higher frequency fluctuations result in higher-pitched sound. Microphones convert this changing air
pressure into an electrical voltage, which can be read by a microcontroller like an Arduino.
Figure 3. Graph showing an example sound wave. The x axis of the graph is time, and the y axis is
pressure (which can be measured either as absolute pressure or as a change from baseline
atmospheric pressure). Section 1 represents a period of silence and section 2 represents a period of
sound. The arrow labeled 3 represents the baseline atmospheric pressure, and the arrow labeled 4
shows the amplitude of the wave (the change from atmospheric pressure). The graph of a
microphone's output would look the same, but the y-axis would be voltage instead of pressure.
(Image credit: Wikimedia Commons user CLI, CC BY-SA 4.0)

There are different ways to process the sound recorded by multiple microphones in order to
determine the direction of the source. One method is to compare the amplitudes of the two sound
waves and assume that the louder wave was detected by the microphone closer to the source. If you
can record data fast enough, you can also check to see which microphone recorded a sound earlier,
as shown in Figure 4.

Figure 4. Sound recorded by a stereo microphone as a car drove by, showing the time difference
between left and right. The x axis of the graph is time and the y axis is voltage. (Image credit
Wikimedia commons user Sophie means wisdom, CC BY-SA 3.0)
In this project you will use the first method. You will mount two microphones on an Arduino robot, use
them to record sound, and compare the resulting measurements to find the one with the greater
amplitudes. We will provide example code and a circuit diagram to get you started, but it is up to you
to decide what to do with this information. When should your robot decide to turn and drive toward a
sound? When should it drive straight? When should it consider the sound "noise" and just ignore it?
You will design and code your own algorithm to control the robot's behavior. Before you get started,
you may wish to watch this video to learn more about the microphones you will use in this project:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bMs5J4bJOD0

Terms and Concepts

● Search and rescue

● Sensor

● Microphone

● Binaural

● Stereo

● Air pressure

● Amplitude

● Frequency

● Voltage

Questions

● What are some uses for search and rescue robots?

● How does binaural hearing let humans determine the direction of a sound source?

● How can robots use stereo microphones to determine the direction of a sound source?

Bibliography

● Science Buddies Staff (n.d.). How to Use an Arduino. Retrieved March 20, 2023.

● Arduino (n.d.). Language Reference. Retrieved July 6, 2020.

● Texas Instruments (2016 January). L293x Quadruple Half-H Drivers. Retrieved July 8, 2020.

● Henderson, T. (n.d.). Sound Waves and Music. The Physics Classroom. Retrieved March 20, 2023.

● Science Buddies Staff (n.d.). The Engineering Design Process. Retrieved March 20, 2023.
Materials and Equipment

Recommended Project Supplies

Get the right supplies — selected and tested to

work with this project.

View Kit

Notes about using an Arduino:

● The list below shows all the individual parts you need to purchase to do this project. An Arduino
starter kit, like the Elegoo UNO Super Starter Kit, may be worth it if you plan to do more Arduino
projects in the future. They contain many of the parts you will need for this and other projects. If you
decide to purchase a starter kit, make sure you check this project's materials list for other parts you
might still need to purchase separately. Note that since the Arduino project is open source, some
starter kits contain third-party Arduino-compatible boards with equivalent functionality.
● You have several options when it comes to programming your Arduino. You can install the Arduino
Integrated Development Environment (IDE) locally on your computer by following the instructions for
your operating system on the Arduino software page. Alternatively, you can use the web-based editor,
which offers cloud storage of your programs so you can access them from multiple computers. If you
have a Chromebook, see the Arduino Chrome App page for instructions.

Materials for this project:

● Bluebot 4-in-1 robotics kit. The kit includes a robot chassis, wheels, motors, breadboard, batteries,
and circuit parts to build four different robots.
● An Arduino Uno
● A 9V battery snap connector with barrel jack connector

● 9 V battery

● A USB-B printer cable to connect your Arduino to a computer and program it

● Electret microphone with amplifier (2). These are available from various vendors. Most require
soldering to attach the pins, so you will need access to a soldering iron. Examples: Adafruit,
SparkFun, Amazon
● Some additional tools are recommended for working with circuits:

■ A digital multimeter is strongly recommended for help with troubleshooting

■ Alligator clip leads make it easier to connect your multimeter probes to your circuit

■ Needle nose pliers or tweezers make it easier to handle small parts

■ Wire strippers allow you to cut wires to custom lengths, keeping your circuit neater

● Double-sided foam tape

● Lab notebook

You may wish to purchase additional parts to customize or add features to your robot. See Variations
section for ideas.

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Experimental Procedure

Note: This engineering project is best described by the engineering design process, as
opposed to the scientific method. You might want to ask your teacher whether it's acceptable to
follow the engineering design process for your project before you begin. You can learn more about
the engineering design process in the Science Buddies Engineering Design Process Guide.

1) Follow the instructions in this video to assemble your Bluebot chassis. However, instead of
mounting the 4xAA battery pack on top of the robot, mount it on the lower plate. Then mount your
Arduino next to the breadboard on the top plate. This will make it easier to connect the circuit to the
Arduino.
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBeGl_IgWwY

2) If needed, solder header pins to your microphone breakout boards.

3) Build the circuit shown in Figures 5 and 6. Be careful and note that there are three different power
supplies involved in this circuit: 5 V and 3.3 V from the Arduino, and 6 V from the 4xAA battery pack.
All parts of your circuit should have a common ground connection, but you must be careful not to
short-circuit the different positive voltages to each other. Also note that the Arduino pins used in this
diagram match the pins used in the example code, but you could choose to use different pins.
a. Place the H-bridge in the breadboard, straddling the center gap. Refer to the H-bridge's
datasheet from the Bibliography for the pinout. Going counterclockwise from the top left, starting
with pin 1, connect the pins as follows:
i. Pin 1 to Arduino pin 10

ii. Pin 2 to Arduino pin 3

iii. Pin 3 to the right motor negative wire

iv. Pin 4 to ground

v. Pin 5 to ground

vi. Pin 6 to the right motor positive wire

vii. Pin 7 to Arduino pin 2

viii. Pin 8 to the 6 V from the AA battery pack

ix. Pin 9 to Arduino pin 9

x. Pin 10 to Arduino pin 4

xi. Pin 11 to the left motor positive wire

xii. Pin 12 to ground

xiii. Pin 13 to ground

xiv. Pin 14 to the left motor negative wire

xv. Pin 15 to Arduino pin 5

xvi. Pin 16 to 5 V from the Arduino

b. Place a slide switch in the breadboard to use as an on/off switch for the 4xAA battery pack.
Connect the battery pack's positive wire to the switch, and the negative wire to a ground bus.

c. Connect your microphones using male-female jumper wires. Make sure you read the pin
labels on your microphones, as they may be in a different order than the ones shown in the
diagram.
 i. Microphone ground to Arduino ground

ii. Microphone VCC to Arduino 3.3 V (not 5 V). The documentation for the microphone
recommends using the 3.3 V supply since it is less noisy than the 5 V supply.

iii. Each microphone out to one of the Arduino's analog inputs, such as A0 and A1.

Figure 5. Breadboard diagram for the circuit. A larger version is available for download.
 Figure 6. Schematic for the circuit. A larger version is available for download.

4) Mount the microphones to your robot chassis. Experimenting with microphone placement and
orientation is part of what you can try for this project. In general, you do not want the microphones too
close together. Figure 7 shows one example, but you could put your microphones somewhere else, or
even use other supplies (like popsicle sticks) to extend them.
 Figure 7. Microphones mounted on the robot chassis.

5) Download the example code. This code contains functions to make the robot drive and steer. It
also samples the two microphones for a set period of time and calculates the maximum amplitude for
each microphone. It does not, however, contain an algorithm that tells the robot what to do with this
information—that part is your job! Make sure you read through all the comments and understand how
the code works. If you do not know what an Arduino command does, you can look it up in the official
Arduino language reference (see Bibliography).

6) Plan out an algorithm for how your robot should react to the microphone readings. Your goal is to
make the robot drive toward the source of a sound. Here are a few things to consider (this is not an
exhaustive list):
a. The robot's motors are pretty loud. Should you take readings while the robot is moving, or
"stop and listen" so the motors' noise does not affect the readings? Can you calibrate the
microphones to filter out (ignore) noise from the motors?

b. There is probably some level of background noise in your environment. Do you want your
robot to react to every single sound? Should you set a threshold so it only reacts if sound
amplitude exceeds a certain volume? Do you want it to react to a person's voice, or something
like a person clapping their hands?
 c. If a sound comes from in front of the robot, the two microphone readings will not be exactly
the same. If the microphone readings are close, but not exactly equal to each other, you may
want the robot to drive straight instead of turning.

d. You can leave your robot plugged into the computer and use the serial print command to print
out the values of different variables. This is useful for debugging and calibrating the microphones
(e.g., measuring the amplitude produced by different sounds at different distances from the
robot).

7) Convert your algorithm to Arduino code. Make sure you document your code with comments so
you understand what it does if you come back to it later.

8) Upload and test your code. At first, it may be helpful to leave the robot's motors turned off (using
the switch on the breadboard) and leave the Arduino connected to the computer with a USB cable.
This will let you use the serial monitor to debug and observe the measured sound values. When you
are ready, you can put the robot on the floor and let it drive around. You can leave the USB cable
connected during testing, but it will pull on the Arduino and affect the robot's motion, so you will want
to disconnect it eventually.

9) Your robot may not work perfectly on the first try, and that is OK! Iteration is an important part of the
engineering design process. Make observations about your robot's behavior. For example, does it
ever turn in the wrong direction? Does it drive forward when it is not supposed to? Are there
parameters you can tweak in your code to change these behaviors? What about changing the
physical location of the microphones?

10) Continue iterating until you can get your robot to reliably drive toward a sound source. See the
Variations section for other ways to add to or improve your robot.

Variations
● You can connect up to six microphones to your robot since the Arduino UNO has six analog inputs.
Can you place an array of microphones around your robot and use them to more accurately
determine the direction of a sound source?
● The example code uses the digitalWrite command to drive the robot at full speed. Instead, you can
use the analogWrite command for the H-bridge's enable pins (pins 1 and 9) to control the speed of
each motor, as shown in our H-bridge tutorial video. Can you make your robot drive at variable
speeds (for example, turn faster if a sound is detected farther to one side)? Note: The analogWrite
command is also useful to fine-tune the robot to drive straight if it tends to drift off to one side.
● Can you add indicator LEDs to your robot? For example, you could have the robot turn on an LED
when it is listening for a sound or use different LEDs to indicate when it is going to drive in different
directions.
● Did you include threshold variables in your code? Can you add potentiometers to your circuit so you
can adjust these thresholds without needing to edit the code?
● Is it possible to use an Arduino to determine the direction of a sound source using the timing of the
sounds instead of the amplitude? Hint: You will need to look up the sampling rate of the Arduino's
analog inputs and calculate how long it takes sound to travel between the microphones, based on the
speed of sound and how far apart the microphones are.
● Can you add a voice recognition module to your robot to make it respond to voice commands?

● You can connect many other sensors to your robot, such as bump sensors, infrared sensors, light
sensors, and ultrasonic sensors. Can you connect more sensors to help your robot navigate an
environment with obstacles? In addition to search and rescue, can you think of other applications, like
space exploration or autonomous cars?

Contact Us
If you have purchased a kit for this project from Science Buddies, we are pleased to answer your
questions.

In your email, please follow these instructions:

1) What is your Science Buddies kit order number?

2) Please describe how you need help as thoroughly as possible:

Examples

Good Question I'm trying to do Experimental Procedure step #5, "Scrape the insulation from the
wire. . ." How do I know when I've scraped enough?
Good Question I'm at Experimental Procedure step #7, "Move the magnet back and forth . . ." and
the LED is not lighting up.
Bad Question I don't understand the instructions. Help!
Good Question I am purchasing my materials. Can I substitute a 1N34 diode for the 1N25 diode
called for in the material list?
Bad Question Can I use a different part?

Contact Us

Related Links
● Science Fair Project Guide

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Cite This Page
General citation information is provided here. Be sure to check the formatting, including capitalization,
for the method you are using and update your citation, as needed.

MLA Style

Finio, Ben. "Build a Sound-Tracking Search and Rescue Robot." Science Buddies, 4 May 2023,
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Robotics_p048/robotics/sound-
tracking-robot. Accessed 4 May 2023.

APA Style

Finio, B. (2023, May 4). Build a Sound-Tracking Search and Rescue Robot. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science-fair-projects/project-ideas/Robotics_p048/robotics/sound-
tracking-robot

Last edit date: 2023-05-04

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