Novosibirsk State Technical University (NETI) is developing a robot for cleaning large rooms. This project will give university students a real opportunity to master programming technologies.
As Alexey Tsygulin, associate professor of the Department of Technological Machine Design at NSTU-NETI, Candidate of Technical Sciences, notes, robots can cause hostility among people — some purely instinctively, others because of fear that a smart machine could take the place of a human. It is important to overcome this stereotype. One of the options for friendly behavior is when a robot does not annoy people with its actions, does not interfere with them, and at the same time benefits them. For example, when cleaning rooms, he can play music softly so that his approach is not unexpected, this is a security element. The robot must also correctly align its trajectory and avoid collisions.
Such a smart robot is created by students of 3-4 courses of the Faculty of Mechanics and Technology and the Faculty of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science of NSTU-NETI as part of their project activities. On the basis of such projects, they master design technologies, programming and other practical skills necessary for engineers. According to Alexey Tsygulin, students work with a vision camera, motor controllers, and remote controls, which will eventually be combined into a single complex. The cleaning robot will be equipped with lidar, which allows you to build a map of the room and accurately navigate in space.
"The uniqueness of the development lies in the fact that we create our own electronics, which will eventually allow us to obtain an inexpensive design that can be replicated. The project is also good from the point of view of learning, because it gives students practical engineering skills: students can refine each element, change something, improve. These two aspects play a significant role in this project," said Alexey Tsygulin.
By now, a prototype is ready — a moving model, software has been developed, and a vacuum cleaner unit is being manufactured. The interface and software will have to be finalized, as well as a plastic case will have to be manufactured.
There is a place for a robot to practice: the university has spacious and fairly simple rooms, and automatic cleaning is just right here. Through the web interface, you can set commands or program a schedule (for example, to clean at certain intervals). The camera will record where the robot was and what it was doing, and the telemetry results will allow it to collect data for analysis and further improvement of the smart assistant. The launch of the cleaning robot is scheduled for autumn.