Initial Project Planning

1. Project Description and Merits

In this project, our group wants to design swarm robots that are able to communicate with one another to complete tasks. In our STEM project, we want to make it so that the robots can work with one another to clean the room up. We think that this could advance the field of STEM because it will enhance many people’s lives. No more vacuuming or mopping the floor because the swarm robots can do it quicker and more efficiently. This could also benefit AI because the robots will be able to comprehend what they are doing, and they will be responsible for doing that part. If our project can work for simple tasks like cleaning floors, it can be possible to make robots do other tasks, such as lifting heavy objects, attacking intruders, etc. These will all help make human life easier. From a business point of view, the swarm robots can help with efficiency because these swarm robots will eventually be able to bring food to sick patients in hospital, be security for their companies, etc.

2. Group/Team Communication

Ryan Atkinson, Alan Li and Jacob Shaw will be working on this project. We will communicate with one another via Skype.

3. Prior Work/Resource Inventory

People have been doing many things with swarm robots recently. There are videos on YouTube displaying their efficiency and helpfulness. These swarm robots/drones can build bridges on their own, play music, etc. There have been swarm robots holding a heavy object and bringing it to a certain person. Harvard also worked on swarm robots; these robots were able to make shapes by working with one another. We hope that in our STEM project, we can improve upon this by having swarm robots clean the floor; this project may also find something new that could benefit Swarm Robots.

4. Technology Analysis

Coding - need to program the robots so that they can either give out or carry out assignments. This has to be worked on a lot because we are not that familiar with coding, yet it is the most important part of this assignment. These robots need to have something to prompt them to do certain actions, and coding will provide that. We also have to make it possible for these robots to process their environment because every single one of them are responsible for one task. Image processing and communication is necessary. If these robots are not familiar with their surroundings and work on different assignments, then it will be a mess.

Mechanical Engineering - designing and building the robot. A robot’s structure can change the way it functions. If a robot doesn’t have wheels, you won’t expect it to move around efficiently. We need to learn how to design and construct a robot that will fulfill our needs, and we have some experience with this because Ryan and Jacob took robots.

5. Competence

Programming, having a specific language/platform for swarm robots

Engineering/Designing

Patience

Being organized

Being precise

6. Safety

If constructing from scratch, soldering irons may be required.

Be gentle with materials.

Use an open area when testing

Pack things up neatly

To avoid these issues, we need to make sure we have time at the end of class to clean up properly. We should also be gentle with the materials by not throwing them around and leaving them at a random place, where others can possibly break it. To have an open area while testing, we need to make sure no one else is walking around this area. If people are walking around and accidentally steps on one of the robots, then we will need to replace it.

7. Equipment, Materials, and Budget (list is subject to change)

Robotics Equipment

Arduino

~$500

8. Schedule

We want to make sure the central unit can send out information to the other robots. If we are able to do this, then we would like to have the central unit do this autonomously. We will be thinking about what platforms and what equipments we need to do the project this week. We will be researching on the topic and finding materials that may benefit us.