STALK-E : Object following robot

Abstract: A task as simple as carrying goods in department stores ispart of everyones daily life. However, such activity mightnot be that easy for people who are in great need of assistance,due to e.g. age or disability. A shopping cart thatfollows its user in a store, might be a solution to this problem.In this project, a tracking robot using colour recognitionwas constructed. Two methods of measuring distancewere compared, and the Pixy camera’s ability to track objectsunder different conditions was investigated.Some components for the vehicle were designed usingSolid Edge ST8 and later on 3D-printed. The Arduino Unowas programmed in the Arduino IDE to control the Pixycamera, the motors, the ultrasonic sensor and the bluetoothmodule. As the project’s time and funding were limited,many areas were left for future development.The robot is turned on/off with a smartphone applicationthat is connected to the robot via bluetooth. Whenthe system is on, the camera starts searching for objectswith a predefined colour code. When an object is foundby the camera, the robot starts the following mission. Thedistance between the robot and the tracked object is measured,in order to maintain a constant distance.Results show that the Pixy camera works as a componentfor object detection purposes, but is not reliableenough due to its sensitivity to changes in light conditions.When measuring distance, the ultrasonic sensor is preferredover the Pixy camera.