Applications & Implications Final Project Outline

Introduction

For this week, we had one major task: to Propose a final project that integrates the range of units covered. I will answer the following guiding questions:

• What will it do?
• Who has done what beforehand?
• What materials and components will be required?
• Where will they come from?
• How much will it cost?
• What parts and systems will be made?
• What processes will be used?
• What tasks need to be completed?
• What other questions need to be answered?
• What is the schedule?
• How will it be evaluated?

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Final Project Idea

• My final project idea falls in the area of social robotics, as it is meant to serve kids who suffer from autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
• My project idea is an Animatronic Head, an educational robot for children with autism.

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What will it do?

Recently, researchers have been tinkering around with using robots in the treatment and rehabilitation for kids with autism, and they found very positive reactions from kids engaging with robots. Autistic kids find it easier to interact with robots than humans because their reactions and expressions are simpler and less overwhelming. Autistic kids are characterized with facial expressions recognition impairment, they can't simply infer from a person's face if s/he is happy, angry or sad.


• The animatronic head may work in two mode:
  1. Training/expression mode (essential) : In this mode, the child will elicit a pre-programmed reaction (facial expression) from the robot using ID cards (RFID tags). Each card is unique and can elicit only one facial expression. This way, the child will learn to recognize various facial expressions.
  2. Programming mode (extra): In this mode the child will get to program the facial expressions themselves using block-based programming.

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Who has done what beforehand?

• The project design concept is inspired from Kismet, an AI robot developed at MIT back in 1998.
  
  
  
  
  
• When I googled “animatronic head” I found various designs for different purposes. There were two specific versions that have a similar purpose to mine.
  
  
  1. FRITZ: is a friendly and expressive animatronic head; however, it is not designed to be programmed by kids.
  2. OHBOT: is also friendly, and it is designed specifically to be programmed by kids. However, OHBOT’s facial features are not very expressive.

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What materials and components? From where? How much?

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What parts and systems will be made?

Eyeballs Mechanism: tilt and pan movement

Eyebrows Mechanism: Up and down movement

Eyeleds Mechanism: up and down movement

Lower Jaw Mechanism: up and down movement

Lips Mechanism

RFID Card Reader

Neck Mechanism: Tilt & Pan (Extra)

Interfacing: block-based programming interface (Extra)

Voice Generator (Extra)

What processes will be used?

3D design and Printing: for the eye mechanism

2D design and Laser cutting: for the face, head and neck

Electronics design and production: for the microcontroller board

Embedded programming

Interface design: using Ardublock for block-based programming.

No.	TASKS	PROCESS	SCHEDULE	STATUS
Mechanisms (Eyeballs, Eyeleds, Eyebrows, Lips, Jaw and Neck): Ouptput Sytems
1	Prototype the rough parts using cardboard and scrab materials	Prototyping	April	Pending
2	Design servo motor controller PCB	Electronics design	March	Done
3	Produce the servo motor controller PCB	Electronics production	April & May	Pending
4	Program the board	Embedded programming	April & May	Pending
5	Test the mechanism using the cardboard parts	Prototyping	April & May	Pending
6	Design frame, linkages and hinges.	Computer-Aided Design	April & May	Pending
7	Fabricate the parts using 3D printing.	3D Printing	April & May	Pending
8	Build and test the mechanism using fabricated parts .	Testing	April & May	Pending
ID Card Reader: Input System
9	Design reader enclosure and ID cards	Computer-Aided Design	April	Pending
10	Fabricate the enclosure using 3D printing.	3D printing	May	Pending
11	Design color detection PCB using Eagle.	Electronics Design	March	Done
12	Produce color detection PCB.	Electronics Production	May	Pending
13	Program the color detection board.	Electronics Production	May	Pending
Base: Enclosure Box
14	Design enclosure Box	Computer-Aided Design	End of May	Pending
15	Fabricate the enclosure using Laser Cutting.	Computer-Controlled Cutting	End of May	Pending
Interfacing: Ardublocks
16	Design and program the interface	Interfacing	June	Pending
Integration
17	Integrate and test all the mechanisms.	Testing	June	Pending

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What questions need to be answered?

• What kind of power source will be used? How to calculate the power requirements of the entire system?
• How to calibrate the color detection using the phototransistor to work properly in differently illuminated environments?
• Is it better to design a seberate PCB for each module, or one board for all the modules?

How will it be evaluated?

• All Output mechanisms work indepedently
• The input controls at least one output mechanism