Philippine E-Journals

The Robotic Floor Sweeper via Image Processing System

Othniel Nun G. Burgos | Joharey A. dela Peña | Lindvie O. Masongsong | Sean Adrian C. Mañalac

 

Abstract:

A robotic sweeper designed by the proponents for cleaning tasks in indoor environments is introduced. This system has three subsystems: electrical, software and mechanical of which microcontroller, sensors (ultrasonic and infrared) and motor are the electrical and mechanical subsystems respectively and the software is the brain of the robot. The robotic sweeper uses a microcontroller to accept commands forward, reverse, left, and right in order to navigate itself with respect to the position of the trash. On the other hand, the floor is captured and saved for reference in the computer via image processing. The camera keeps capturing images at a time if any change is encountered with respect to the reference image. An algorithm is applied by the proponents to detect objects and to display the current location of the trash. When the robot and the trash are on the same axis, the microcontroller commands the robot to go forward and determine the shortest path between the robot and the garbage. The robot moves to the desired position and sucks the garbage using conveyor cleaner. The brush at the front of the robot performs the cleaning process. In case of obstacles, or a potential collision, the ultrasonic sensor sends an input to the microcontroller to avoid collision, whereas, an infrared sensor is used to sense certain characteristics of its surroundings to keep the robot inside the desired area.