PRE2017 4 Groep6

Group members

• David van den Beld, 1001770
• Gerben Erens, 0997906
• Luc Kleinman, 1008097
• Maikel Morren, 1002099
• Adine van Wier, 0999813

Project pages

For all the branches of the project diverging from the initial set-up and planning, please see their respective pages

• General Literature Review
• Extended Literature Review
• User and product analysis
• Desinging the robot
• Project conclusion
• Project reflection

This page itself is dedicated to general information about the project.

Project

Project Statement

Wildfires are occurring throughout the world at an increasing rate. Great droughts in various regions across the globe are increasing the possibility of wildfires. National parks deal with major wildfires multiple times over a year. Areas devastated by wildfires are mostly devoid of life, while still having an extremely fertile soil with all the biomass left after the fire. Artificial reforestation can accelerate this natural process. This process might be enhanced by means of technology, for example by deploying robots that plant seeds of saplings in these areas. This project investigates the possibility and potential of utilising robots to restore these devastated areas to their former glory. This project investigates whether the a robot or fleet of robots could be used to effectively and efficiently to this extend, at least with respect to the present-day alternatives. To accomplish this we envision a robotic vehicle which at least the following 3 technological aspects:

I. A way to assess whether the soil's fertility rate, and thus the fitness parameter to plant a new forest. This is needed since it is possible for the soil to become infertile when rain washes all the biomass away or a very intens fire could kill all microbes living at the surface.

II. A device capable of planting the seeds deep enough in the ground to ensure good growing chances for the seed. Different seeds come with different optimal seeding depths, so if a naturally mirrored forest area is desired, the seeding mechanism has to be able to perform at a variety of depths.

III. A way to transport itself around, which will most likely result in wheels, as this is the most achievable option within this course. Furthermore this option allows for better data acquisition of the parameters determining the fertility of the soil (see I.). Another option for mobility would be a drone, however as mentioned before due to technical complexities and time restraints this option is not considered.

This envisioned robot leads to the first and main objective of this project: a design for a robotics technology for reforestation. This design will feature the aforementioned technological aspects, with the main focus being on aspects I and II, as these are technologies more specific to our envisioned robot and will be crucial for its effectivity, whereas aspect III is a more general functionality which all mobile robots share. Beyond this, once a design has been established we aim to make a model based around the physical working mechanisms on the robot, which can help us gain more theoretical insight in the working of the robot and to determine failure criteria. Of course, construction of the design is also taken into consideration, which will be done parallel to the modelling. But before diving into the deep and mindlessly start to design, build and model, we want to investigate the interplay between this envisioned robotic technology and society. This is done by means of examining the potential for this robotic technology to influence society, and how society can stimulate the development of this technology, considering both society as a whole, and the governments influence separately. Also, the relation between this product and the relevant enterprises concerning themselves with reforestation is taken into the research, as the succes of this technology will primarily be dependent on the investments stored in it.

Planning

Below follows the planning for the project for the upcoming 9 weeks constituting the course 0LAUK0 Project: Robots Everywhere (new planning is temporarily over here)

Table 1: Preliminary planning for the project

Week number	Task	Person*
1
	Choose definitive subject	Collaborative effort of all members
	Define problem statement and objectives	David
	Define users	Adine
	Obtain user requirements	Gerben
	Work out typical use cases	Luc
	Define the milestones and deliverables	Maikel
	Define the approach of the problem	Collaborative effort of all members
	Search for relevant state-of-the-art (SotA) sources, categories: Modularity (Semi-) Autonomous cars Sensors for prospecting/evaluating ground Drilling/plowing/seeding mechanism Current Forestation combat methods	All divided into the subcategories: Maikel David Luc Gerben Adine
	Make project planning	Collaborative effort of all members
2
	Review user requirements and use cases	Collaborative effort of all members
	Finish collecting SotA articles and write SotA section	Each member for their respective subcategory
	Compile list of potential robot designs	Collaborative effort of all members
	Make some concept design sketches	Maikel
	Make a preliminary list of required parts	Gerben
	Define embedded software environment	Luc
	Preliminary elimination session for designs based on user requirements	Adine
	Start compiling list of design preferences/requirements/constraints	David
3
	Finish list of preferences/requirements/constraints	Adine
	Further eliminate designs due to constraints	Collaborative effort of all members
	Rank remaining designs and select a winner	Collaborative effort of all members
	Develop a building plan/schemata for the winner design	Gerben, Luc
	Start acquiring physical quantities for modelling design	Maikel, David
	Start with a simple model of some system parameters	Maikel, David
4
	Commence robot assembly according to highest priority of building schemata	Gerben, David
	Continue modelling/simulating	Maikel
	Start coding robot functionalities	Luc
	Catch up on documenting the wiki	Adine
5
	Continue robot assembly and coding	Gerben, David, Luc
	Continue modelling/simulating	Maikel
	Catch up on documenting the wiki	Collaborative effort of all members
6
	Continue robot assembly and coding	Gerben, Luc
	Test the first (few) finished sub-system(s) of the robot.	Collaborative effort of all members
	Finish modelling/simulating	Maikel, David
	Finish catching up on documenting the wiki	Collaborative effort of all members
7
	Finish robot assembly	Gerben
	Make concept designs for possible modules	Luc
	Make a draft for final presentation	Maikel, David, Adine
	Test the first (few) finished sub-system(s) of the robot.	Collaborative effort of all members
8
	Buffer time	Collaborative effort of all members
	Finish final presentation	Maikel, David, Adine
	Complete wiki	Gerben, Luc

^* The current division of task is a rough estimate for the next 7 weeks. New tasks may pop up or task division may be rotated, and is hence subject to change during the progress of the course.

Approach

The problem will be approached by a design question. What is the best design for a robot to combat deforestation which will be build modular so that it can be implemented for other purposes with minor changes. The first 2 weeks the approach will primarily be sequential, as user analysis, use cases and requirements/preferences/constraints need to be done sequentially before the rest of the project can start. Once this is over, the project will run in a parallel fashion where building and modelling will happen simultaneously.

Milestones and Deliverables

Table 2: Milestones

Date	Accomplished
30-04-2018	SotA research done
03-05-2018	User analysis/use cases done
07-05-2018	Have a partially eliminated list of designs
10-05-2018	Pick final “winner” design
21-05-2018	Have the first working subsystem
25-05-2018	Finish modelling
31-05-2018	Have an operational prototype running with at least 2 subsystems
07-06-2018	Made several concepts for modules
11-06-2018	Presentation is finished
14-06-2018	Wiki is completely updated