Robot That AnyOne Can Program
The Idea
Robots are typically programmed for specific tasks. Re-programming them every time for a new task, that they were not previously programmed for, can be a tedious task, even for experienced programmers. Employing robots in homes and other uncontrolled and dynamic environments, will require framework so that anyone can define their behavior using a mobile app, gestures, or by directly manipulating the robots hardware. This project is inspired by a similar kind of robot Baxter built by Rethink Robotics. It is an industrial robot that can be trained by anyone to perform a task just by manipulating its arms.
About The Robot
The robot does a simple task of going from one point to another and returning back to the initial point on the same path. The robot can be manually controlled or can also be programmed to run continuously on a desired path, by anyone using the app [pictures below] . The system stores the directions and magnitude of movements in the directions.
The App
The app is used to connect the android device to the bot using blue-tooth and the user can choose the type of control he wants. The robot can be controlled manually using the "Manual Control" (Screen 2) , it can be programmed using the "Program Robot" (Screen 3) and the robot can be run on the stored path using "Run on Stored Path" (Screen 4 ). The app is made using App Inventor.
Uses
The robots used in large industries are used in a controlled environment to do repetitive tasks and engineers are available to reprogram the robot for other tasks. But in uncontrolled and dynamic environments like small scale industries and households , we can use such type of flexible and easily programmable robotic systems , so that people who do not know programming can use and manipulate robots according to there needs.
Future Plans
I want to build a robot that can be used as a Personal Robot and also as a companion in households and small scale industries for activities like maintenance , cleaning and other unorthodox activities that we cannot think of . And this can be done by giving the power of programming the robot to the people.
Code