IIIT students develop programmable robot

Programmable robots have vast potential, as they can be transformed in accordance with requirements. In line with this concept, three students of IIIT - Idupulapaya - Sandeep Konam, Mansoor Basha and Renuka Lakshmi - have developed a multi-functional real time path programmable robot that takes the path specified by the user.

“Programmable robots can keep houses clean, modulate light, humidity and temperature to suit our requirements, track household products, control security systems and engage in a spectrum of tasks,” said Sandeep.

Programmable devices are the sole medium capable of narrowing down the gap between cyber space and physical space, on which researchers across the globe have been laying emphasis, he added. According to him, there have been attempts to integrate these programmable devices into smart houses, hospitals and construction sites.

Human operator’s expertise coupled with the robot’s adaptability can accomplish huge tasks through remote operations. Remote control has also been embedded into the robot, Sandeep said.

He had recently demonstrated a programmable robot made by the three-member team and presented a research paper at the two-day IEEE International Conference on Vehicular Electronics and Safety, 2014, (ICVES’14) organised by Uurmi Systems at Hitec City in Hyderabad.

A cost-effective way of making a path-programmable robot, wherein the user can specify the task using a gadget that can either be a keypad or a touch screen, was also presented at the conference. Task specification is done using a keypad, on which each button corresponds to a scaled version of the specific area in the real world.

Data pertaining to user-defined path is transmitted to the robot through RF modules, which are embedded in it. The three crucial steps in building the robot were mapping each key on the keypad to a scaled area in the real world, programming the robot in real time and a methodology that informs the user of the direction and position of the robot when it is not in the vicinity of the user, Sandeep explained.

One can assign a task to the robot using a smart phone. “The software of the module can be updated to change the way we prototype, design and use the robot,” he added.