0LAUK0 PRE2016 3 Groep10 Project progress

Week 1

General tasks

• A design team of six students has to be formed.
• Brainstorm session on subjects for the project.
• The first presentation, mainly focussed on the actual chosen subject, has to be prepared.

The design team

The design team consists of six students of different departments from the University of Technology Eindhoven:

• Bram Grooten (Applied Mathematics)
• Ken Hommen (Industrial Engineering)
• Lennard Buijs (Mechanical Engineering)
• Man-Hing Wong (Electrical Engineering)
• Pieter van Loon (Software Science)
• Steef Reijntjes (Electrical Engineering)

Initial subject

After a small brainstorm session during the first introduction lecture, the design team came up with the idea to design a smart, autonomous beer bottle sorting machine that can be used as an innovative extension on the control systems what are currently in use in supermarkets. Nowadays, employees are still needed to sort the different beer bottles and put them correspondingly in the correct crate. According to current technologies, this task can easily be done by a control system. Our design team want to especially do research on how artificial intelligence could be used to improve current technologies in control systems. As an example of a control system, the team mainly wants to target a beer bottle sorting machine for supermarkets, that can be demonstrated as a model. The system should be able to, according to sensors and an artificial intelligent vision system, take the empty beer bottles from a conveyer, and put them in the right crate. Is artificial intelligence able to optimize and improve this process, by for example recognizing the labels on the bottles? Can this information what is obtained from the external environment be used in current or future technologies?

Week 2

Evaluation

After our presentation, we found that our subject was not sufficient, since there was no clear problem we were solving. Therefore we had to think of a new subject or find a problem involving the old subject.

General tasks

• Prepare presentation 2 for Monday 20 February.
• Brainstorm session on new subjects for the project.
• After 3 hours of discussion there was still no consensus about a sufficient subject, therefore we decided that every group member had to do his own research for the next meeting, which would be on Wednesday 15 February.
• Specific tasks for 13 February: Every group member thinks of a subject that he is enthusiastic about and:
  • that really is a problem;
  • that can be fixed with robotics and AI.
  • with which we can show or build a certain solution.

Brainstorm session

Ken

Advanced Elderly Emergency System (A.E.E.S.): A device that should be worn by, mostly, elderly that detects when one has fallen. It can automatically send a warning to ‘ICE’-persons or even call 112. Automatically sending its location along with it. A microphone and camera can in this case be used to observe the situation even faster. By connecting the device to the internet, this all can be made possible even faster. Also the device can ‘ask’ questions to the owner in case of emergency, which can be answered by simple answers (yes/no).

Bram

HIV Testing Robot: This robot can help people with HIV in certain region in Africa, who do not know that they have HIV (or another STD). The robot drives around from village to village to perform tests on people. They need to let the robot take some blood or urine, so the robot can do the tests. The robot has a curtain (or foldable box) with it for privacy while the person is urinating. Then inside the robot the lab for tests is built and it runs the test. It shows a clear result to the person (for example: happy or sad smiley) via an integrated screen.

It might need to educate people first on what STD’s are, how they can go from person to person, and why it is bad to have them. It might also deliver condoms. This educating can be difficult, because there might not be many people speaking English. So the robot needs to learn the language of the different regions as well. Also, it could use many pictures to try to explain things simply.

If a person has HIV or another disease, the robot remembers the location where he is, and sends it to the nearest doctor. To ask the doctor if he can come over to the house of the person. It might take a picture of the person, or save the fingerprint of the person and also send it to the doctor, so the doctor knows who this patient is. Also, it could show the patient the route to the nearest doctor and explain why he/she needs to go there.

According to this idea, it is possible to make several things, such as: The explanation video in English, or the design of the robot. While designing the robot, severe important aspects should be taken in mind, since the robot needs to comfort people and not scare them off. Taking blood can be scary for some patients, so details as the amount of blood what should be taken, has to be considered.

Pieter

Self-adjusting monitor/chair (including energizer): It is really hard to have a correct seating position at your desk and it is also really hard to get the monitor height and/or tilt set up correctly. A computer chair or monitor that automatically adjusts the height of the monitor or the seat settings can be used to resolve this. It measures from your seating position whether you are sitting correctly and adjusts accordingly. The monitor uses a camera to see how your head is angled and adjusts the height and/or tilt to the most ideal position.

Steef

Container opener: Some people are unable to open a container, because they have a disability or they simply do not have enough strength. A container opener adapts its shape to different types of containers which opens these containers for people who are unable to effectively open these containers.

Man-Hing Wong

Adaptive cruise control (ACC): A system that can be implemented in nowaday's vehicles, as an addition on the current cruise control system. The system is able to keep track of its environment in such a way that it can allow a vehicle to adapt its velocity to the vehicle that is driving in front of him, especially used to prevent traffic congestion and traffic accidents.

Lennard

Mosquito catcher: Mosquitos are one of the most annoying insects of mankind. It is even stated that certain species are one of the most dangerous animals on planet, since these species can carry diseases (i.e. HIV). A robotic version of a bug-eating plant can resolve this problem. This robot lures a mosquito with a lamp or some scent. By using a motion sensor, a heat-sensor and microphone, it will 'bite' when the mosquito gets close enough.

New subject

To determine the new subject for our project, our design team has made a points-matrix to determine which subject suits us best according to individual opinions and the relevant course requirements.

Robot technology	Points for problem statement	Points for consisting robotics or artificial intelligence	Points for feasability	Total points
Elderly rescue bracelet	4 5 5 5 5	5 3 4 4 5	3 5 5 5 5	68
Artificial intelligent HIV testing robot	2 2 2 2 4	1 2 3 2 2	2 1 1 2 2	30
Mosquito catcher	5 3 2 3 3	1 4 3 3 3	4 3 2 1 1	41
Container opener	3 1 1 1 1	2 1 1 1 1	1 2 1 2 3	22
Adaptive cruise control (ACC)	1 1 4 3 4	3 4 5 3 4	4 3 2 4 4	49
Self-adjusting monitor/chair (incl. enegizer)	4 2 3 4 5	5 2 5 2 5	5 4 3 3 5	57

According to this points-matrix, it has been decided that the elderly rescue bracelet will be the new subject for the project, what is able to detect when someone is falling and help afterwards is recommended. This system asks questions to the relevant person that just fell, and determine correspondingly whether emergency actions should be taken. A model of this technology will be designed by the group to demonstrate its abilities and functions, keeping USE and technical aspects in mind.

Others

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