Hand Gesture Controlled Robot

The gesture is a way to express our ideas using our head or body. To build a hand gesture robot we will build a system using which our robot can recognize any gesture with the help of its camera, afterward classify this gesture with the help of some algorithm and respond accordingly. To make it simple, You can understand the working of this robot in the following steps:
1. Send Signals using Remote Device(Your Hand, Face, Body or remote)
2. The robot receives Signals using Cameras on-board.
3. Use Algorithm to decode the signal
4. Match that signal with stored signals
5.If match found then follow instructions as specified.

Mechanical engineering Project Ideas

In the field of mechanical engineering, we have a vast range of topics to select from. At present, companies and governments are dealing with two issues. First, is about global warming and the other is about competition.

For both these issues, mechanical engineers can contribute a lot. For example, to improve the competitiveness of the organization, you can build automation tools or robots which can help the company to improve its efficiency and similarly for global warming, you can bring some news ideas to either save energy or generate it without doing harm to nature.

The biggest positive about these is that solutions to both these issues are going to come from mechanical. This is the reason, I always recommend students to select topics which are related to either robotics or renewable energy.

I myself tried to find all the latest topics from around the world and write about them to give you some more insight into what's happening around.

Robotics 

Robotics Projects Robotics would be a good choice in mechanical projects: Robots are very attractive in comparison to other projects and if everything goes well they will make you win.

Though I  have written a separate post about robotics here as a starting point I would like to share all important links in this section. Using given links you can enhance your knowledge before building your own machines.

• How to Build a Robot
• Its Basics(pdf)
• Computer Controlled RC Car
• Robotic Spider
• Solar Insect Robot:  It is powered by solar. It will help you in understanding the concepts of both Robotics and Solar Energy.
• Fire Fighting machine
• Cleaning Robots
• Line Follower Robot
• Autonomous Agile flying machines

Maze solving Robot

We have discussed many projects in Robotics before including Line Follower Robot. Maze Solving Robot is similar project but before we discuss about this project, we should know about maze and our objective.

What is Maze?

Maze is a type of puzzle with start start and end points including many dead ends.To solve this puzzle we need to find right path in a fastest possible way.

What type of maze we are going to use for our robot?

Usually, this project requires line maze which is black line on a white background.

Our Objective:

We will build a robot which can find its way in a line maze from start point to end point.

Basic Requirements:

Two Motors: Motors will move robot forward(Both motors running) and help it turns towards left(left motor slow and right fast) or right( right motor slow and left fast).

Five Infrared Sensors: Sensors helps robot to find its path and keeps it updated about the line on the floor.With five sensors their are 32 combination possible but many of them are unlikely to occur in our experiment.For ex. 11111(All indicating black) will never occur because their is only one line and this pattern is showing that line on both side of robot including line on which it is moving.

Joystick control car drive mechanism for physically challenged people

We often see that persons with a disability need to use mobility car. Mobility Car is a vehicle issued to a disabled person, to allow them to travel without the burden of their disability. Mobility cars are obtained from a scheme called "Motability". But this car too not come with some preconditions and these conditions are difficult to meet for severely disabled people. Moreover, driving a car is always difficult for a person with having control distributed all over.

This project is for engineering students and would be extremely useful for people who impair their physical abilities

Our objective:
We want to build a car that can be operated by using a joystick. If we can build that, it would be a great help for disabled persons.

Why we need this type of system?

The existing system in the market is modified to allow the physically disabled to drive but it still needs lots of improvements.

Autonomous Agile Aerial Robots

The most effective way to build an autonomous aerial vehicle is quadrotor.

A quadrotor also called a quadrotor helicopter or quadrocopter is a multicopter that is lifted and propelled by four rotors.

University of  Pennsylvania professor Vijay Kumar and his team developed such a quadrotor robot which can operate autonomously without the help of remote control or GPS System.

Autonomous Underwater Robot Vehicle

 

An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring input from an operator.AUVs carry sensors to navigate autonomously and map features of the ocean. Typical sensors include compasses, depth sensors, side scan, and other sonars, magnetometers, thermistors, and conductivity probes.

University of Florida robotics engineering students developed a robot Subjugator, which can swim through underwater tubes without a remote control.

Talking Robots with Lego Mindstorms

From the days of the "Small Wonder" TV show, I always wanted to have one robot which can talk and respond just like a human. To build one as a Robotic Project is really interesting. This project is going to be very interesting and challenging because our robot requires not only to speak capability but should have artificial intelligence to learn from its surroundings.

Architecture for talking robots consists of four main modules:

• Dialogue system
• Speech client with speech recognition and synthesis capabilities
• Module for infrared communication between the PC and the RCX and
• the program that runs on the RCX itself.

Useful PDF:

Talking Robots With LEGO Mindstorms

Related Video :

Related Posts :
Mechanical engineering Projects
Physics Projects
Robotics Project
Electronics Projects
Electrical projects

Ball Sorting Mindstorms Lego Project

Ball sorting project is an interesting one because it helps you to understand various important concepts of Robotics such as finding the distance of objects, recognizing them, pick and drop them and things like that.

Useful Links :

Sort the Ball
NXT Sensors

Hardware Requirement :

Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 which includes :

• Ultrasonic sensor 
• Touch sensors: Lets the robot react to touch
• Servo motors: Allows the robot to interact with the environment
  NXT Brick: The programmable core that reads the sensors and controls the motors and things many more. You can buy it from any online store including amazon.com

Software Requirement :

NXT-G:  is a graphical programming environment that comes bundled with the NXT. With careful construction of MyBlocks to encapsulate complexity, NXT-G can be used for real-world programming.

Complete Instruction and Details at Robin Newman's Page

Related Video :

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Robotics Project
Electronics Projects
Electrical projects

Real Time Sorting Machine

It is a Candy sorting machine built in LEGO. It is using Java Optimized Processor which is mounted on the LRBJOP board. It is using a tilt-tray sorter method.

Why Real-Time Sorting used?
A tilt-tray sorter is a high-speed, continuous-loop sortation conveyor that uses a technique of tilting a tray at a chute to slide the object into the chute. It is used to expedite the process of Order fulfillment to consolidate line items of an order and to process returned products for immediate updating of inventory in real-time.

Helpful Resources : 

Java Optimized Processor :  

The unit controlling the LEGO motors and sensors is Java Optimized Processor (JOP). JOP is a Java processor, an implementation of Java Virtual Machine (JVM) in hardware.JOP executes Java Byte-code with precise timing constraints for each instruction, enabling execution time and scheduling verification.
Click here for JOP Design website

Uppaal :
Implementation has been modeled and verified using Uppaal. Uppaal is an integrated tool environment for modeling, validation, and verification of real-time systems modeled as networks of timed automata, extended with data types (bounded integers, arrays, etc.)

Lego PCB : 

LEGO PCB is a robotics invention system of the LEGO Group. It was intended for children, but it turned out to be a great toy for adults, too. It combines electric components like sensors and actuators with Lego bricks and Lego Technical parts, such as gears, wheels, and axles, to build robots and other automated or interactive systems.

Made by: Peter Olsen, Thomas Bøgholm, and Henrik Kragh-Hansen

Related Video :

 

RC Helicopter

In the past I have discussed Project Ideas related to RC Planes and Cars, Yesterday I received an mail asking me about information related to RC Helicopters. These helicopters also known as Radio Controlled Helicopters. They are toys that can be controlled using the remote control. Building them helps us to understand the concepts of real helicopters and their flying. This project is for Mechanical, Aeronautical and Physics students.

Fire Fighting Robot

Firefighting is the act of extinguishing fires. A firefighter fights fires to prevent loss of life, and destruction of property and the environment. Fire is dangerous not only for victims but also for firefighters. To make firefighter easier we need a robot which can extinguish the fire in adverse circumstances.

Wall Climbing Robots

Wall climbing has been done by a lot of animals such as lizards, chameleons, etc. Nowadays, robotics engineers started to develop robots that can climb walls. These robots can be used in firefighting, spying or capturing videos.

Unmanned Ground Vehicle UGV

What is UGV?
The unmanned ground vehicle is very useful and it saves much precious life at the time of war. It consists of a camera that sends video to the control system or base computer. There are two types of UGV: One is controlled by us and the other one is autonomous and makes its own decision.

For the first type of UGV signals are transferred to and fro from the vehicle and for that reason, it has both transmitter and receiver fitted on its body. The design of this vehicle varies according to the needs and requirements. In this article, I have collected a lot of pdf files to share with you and which would be a great resource for you to start with this project.

Related Pdf :
 
Pointon: Semi-Autonomous UGV Control with Intuitive Interface

Planning and Control of UGV Formations in a Dynamic Environment: A Practical Framework

Real-Time, Multi-Perspective Perception for Unmanned Ground Vehicles

High-speed hazard avoidance for unmanned ground vehicles in emergency situations.

 Video:

 

Related Projects :

A Vision-Based System for a UGV to Handle a Road Intersection

Robotics projects

To be honest with you, in all the ideas I shared with you, this is my favorite section. Here, we will discuss Robotics projects which will give you an insight into these beautiful machines and helps you learn artificial intelligence and machine learning. We all want to make our life easier and safe and Robotics engineering students play a vital role in making that happen. In this post, I will try to discuss best topics I have discovered while studying about this branch. Moreover, some of the ideas discussed here win in student's college competitions. These include robots who help in fire fighting to the one which is useful in construction. I don't know whether you will select something from this article or not but it will definitely help you in your selection of topic.