Design Proposal

ENGR 103 - Spring 2013 Freshman Engineering Design Lab

“SpyBot”

Project Design Proposal

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to outline the motivation, goals, and necessary criteria for completing the freshman design project. This project consists of building an autonomous robot that is capable of navigating a building and be able to identify sensitive information for extraction while subduing any hostile targets encountered while on its mission. The project deliverables, timelines, and constraints are clearly indicated in the various sections of the paper. Also included is a brief breakdown of the technical skills needed as well as identified technical activities that will lead to successful completion of the project. The final sections of the paper detail the necessary resources and facilities needed as well as a proposed budget for the project.
More information about the project including weekly updates can be found at http://du2013-grp086-01.blogspot.com.

1 Introduction

A known terrorist organization is believed to have documents detailing their next attack inside a building that is suspected to be a terrorist safe house. This particular situation is not currently on going but it is something that law enforcement entities have been reviewing. Law enforcement agencies have hired a lab team to design and build an autonomous robot that is capable of searching the building to locate and subdue any hostiles retrieving any documents that may outline the terrorists attack plans.

The lab team has decided to take on this project and to build such an autonomous robot. After deciding to take on the project, all possible approaches needed to be considered. This mostly consists of determining what constraints would be involved when designing the robot in a manner that would satisfy the issue, be budget conscious, and most of all safe and effective.

2 Deliverables

The project requires a robot design that is capable of locating and retrieving the sensitive information while also being able to detect and subdue any hostiles while on the mission. To do this the team will need to design and build an autonomous robot that can perform these functions. This will be done utilizing the Lego NXT system to prototype a robot for presentation.

Also necessary, the team will need to construct a model floor plan in which the “sensitive information” and the hostiles can be randomly placed as to show off the robot’s ability to search the entire building looking for these documents.
The final set of deliverables will include:

•  Program for the Robot
•  Physical Robot Prototype
•  Physical and Digital Building Floor plan model

3 Technical Activities

The project will be broken down into several phases that can be simultaneously worked on to produce the desired outcome and provide adequate deliverables.

3.1 Robot Design

The robot design will need to be established as the first phase of the project and will be the first completed. Once the robot design has been established the building floor plan and program design can be worked on simultaneously. During the program design phase it is very likely that the robot design will undergo slight-to-moderate modifications.

The robot design will need to incorporate multiple sensors so that it will be able to detect and react according to the environment. At first glance, the following sensors will play an important role for this function:

•  Ultrasonic Sensor
•  Touch Sensor
•  Light Sensor
•  Color Sensor

The robot will need to be equipped with two Lego NXT bricks. This will give the robot the necessary inputs for the above mentioned sensors while allowing room for additional sensors. Additionally, with the use of two Lego NXT bricks, the robot will have enough motor inputs to operate its various functions while on mission.

3.2 Floor Plan Design

The floor plan design is a rather straight forward phase of this project. The general design can be worked on while the robot design is underway; however, establishing dimensions and physically building this phase will not begin until after the robot design has been established. The floor plan needs to model a generic building and include halls, rooms, and corridors. A preliminary sample can be viewed in figure 1.

Figure 1: Preliminary Floor Plan Design

3.3 Program Design

The program design will be the most daunting task of the project. In order for the robot to perform the necessary tasks in locating and extracting the sensitive information and subduing hostile targets, the robot will need a dynamic program capable of interpreting all of the sensor inputs allowing proper execution of the mission.

The program design can begin once the initial physical design has been completed. While working on the program design it may become necessary to modify the physical design in order to meet particular needs that may be later identified.

4 Project Timeline

The project timeline is from inception to completion in 10 week’s time. This requires precise deadlines that will need to be met periodically. There will be little time for deviation from the proposed timeline. Table 1 outlines major tasks along with their projected timelines.

Table 1: Major Project Tasks and their Timelines

It is important to note that many of the major project tasks overlap with each other and at times changes to the design of one major task may require a change in design of the other major tasks.

5 Facilities and Resources

Most of the resources for this project will be provided by Drexel University. The major resources needed include the Lego NXT kit. The lab team has determined that two of these kits will be necessary for the completion of this project.

Additionally, this project is going to require the construction of a floor plan design of a building. The resources needed for the construction include; foam board, X- Acto knives, and a hot glue gun. The foam board is used as the floor itself as well as the walls. The X- Acto knife will be used to accurately cut up the foam board and the hot glue gun will be used for assembly. The assembly of the floor design will take place off site in the garage of one of the lab team’s home. When it is complete, the floor design will be disassembled and then transported to campus at which point the robot will also be completed and testing can begin.

6 Expertise

A crucial expertise in the project will be with the familiarity of the Lego NXT system. The majority of this project is centered around the Lego NXT system and thus a vast knowledge and understanding of how the system integrates together is vital to the success of the project. This includes the programming associated with the NXT as well as the mechanical skills needed to assemble the robot. Another useful expertise to have on this project is the ability to utilize AutoCAD to provide necessary design plans for the floor plan design that will be constructed during the project.

7 Budget 

The necessary budget for this project is anything but substantial. The proposed budget includes only foam board as the rest of the materials are either being provided by Drexel University (Lego NXT development kit) or already possessed by the lab team (various tools as outlined in the facilities and resources section). The total cost of the foam board needed to produce the floor plan was estimated at about $41.25 and includes nine pieces of foam board.