Kitchen Cleaning Robot

 In our research, we found out that many people struggle with cleaning their tables. It’s not just about taking up a lot of time and energy; for some, like those with disabilities or the elderly, it can be really tough. We want to make things easier for everyone, so cleaning the table doesn’t have to be such a hard task.

Step 1: Project Working Modes, Functionality and Requirements

its primary interactions are the table’s surface and edges, as well as different types of dirt on the table. Additionally, the robot will deal with obstacles on the table, such as plates and cups, ensuring effective and efficient cleaning. All this will be taken into consideration in the following steps

Step 2: Conceptual Design

The main issue to surpass in our project is for the robot to detect and avoid falling edges. There were three types of components that we needed to compare:

• Motors

• Sensors

• Wheels

Rubber wheels were the better option as it full filled our project needs and was easier to obtain and had simple control in programming Regarding the final design we went with we had four different designs mainly having different concept for a gripper but ultimately we decided to scrap the gripper and go with a design that had a small weight and a brush in the middle

Step 3: Embodiment Design

Our project consist of simple parts divided in cleaning unit, driving unit and sensors shown in the figure below.The goal of the prototype is to move autonomously while cleaning the table on it’s patch with a roller brush, The behaviour of the prototype can be described in the logic diagram

Step 4: Mechanical Design

When designing the prototype the main requirement that surfaced was to design the prototype as compact and light weight as possible. With the limited time, Budget and equipment we realized that achieving the full goal of the project would not be possible so we decided to go layer by layer achieving bare minimum in our project to make an affordable and easy to reproduce robot that can clean the table without falling off the table.

We used two rubber wheels with two 3.7v Dc motors along with a caster ball wheel in front of the robot for better turning which are held to the body of the robot using 3D printed mounts and long screws securely along with a roller brush to clean as the robot moves autonomously

Step 5: Circuit & Sensor

For our robot to avoid ledges we used an ultra sonic sensor to detect falling edges of tables, another Ultrasonic sensors would help the robot to avoid obstacles on the table however due to our limited time con straint it was not installed however the process of it would be the same but given different parameters within arduino IDE. The DC motors were connected to the arduino board using an L298n H-bridge in order to control the wheels individually as well as use them together as well as allowing us to control the speed of each wheel individually

In order to have the right amount of torque a simple calculation was done to ensure the motors would be able to drive our robot. Tw = r× M× µs× g /4

• Tw being torque [N/m]

• r being radius [m]

• M being total mass [Kg]

• mus being friction coefficient

• g being gravitational constant [N/Kg] (1)

With our components in place it was time to program and test our robot in order to finalize our project.

Step 6: Software

one of the main requirements of our robot is fast reaction after detection of falling edges of tables and obstacles. with Arduino's limited computational abilities the complexity of our program and data processing needed to be low for our program to work. Again in order to achieve our goal we went about programming the robot layer by layer, First testing out each part individually to make sure there were no malfunctioning parts, After detecting faulty parts and replacing them we focused on having the robot move forward, detect a falling edge and then going backwards in order to get a good understanding of how much time was needed for our robot to react as fast as it could

Step 7: Integration Guide

 As mentioned before our prototype is composed of:

• Driving Unit

• controller Unit

• Cleaner

• Sensor

The Motors are connected to the bottom of the frame using 3D printed mounts held by screws and bolts as well as the ball wheel in bottom front of the frame along with the cleaning brush which is connected in the bottom middle of the frame with 3D printed mounts and small MDF wood. The Controller unit(Arduino board) and the L298n H-Bridge were at tached inside the robot along with 5 9V batteries, 4 to power the motors and 1 to power the controller unit, an ultra sonic sensor is installed in front of the robot facing downwards to detect falling edges should the detection distance rise.

Step 8: Demo Project Showcase and Quick Start Guide

 Some steps were already explained, Here is an explicit instruction

• Cut and print all the necessary parts which are provided in the google drive link

• Attach the motors and ball wheel to the base plate of the frame

• Attach all the electronic parts to the base frame

• Solder and attach wires from motors to the L298n H-bridge

• Wire all the outputs to their designated pins provided in the code section • Solder and attach a 9v battery to the arduino along with a micro switch

• solder and attach four 9V batteries to the H-Bridge along with a micro switch to turn on the motors

• attach the supporting walls to the base frame and finally attach the ceiling part to the supporting walls of the frame

Step 9: Project Review

Given the limited time, resources, availability of the equipment’s and printers in the lab and changes to our group members half way through the project we must first acknowledge the fact that our robot runs.

One of the main issues that we all learned from was that in the beginning of the project we were so focused on parts and features of the robot that were meant to be implemented way later in the project that we lost track of achieving bare minimum, after realizing this we decided to progress through the project layer by layer giving us a clear path ahead.

However even with that in mind we could not install and implement all the features we had in mind due to time constraints and lack of equipment/Staff. Another issue that even with prior knowledge and anticipation we ran into was the added extra weight keeping the motors from driving properly which costed us a great deal of time however by the end this issue was realized and resolved.

The design of our robot was changed many times, going from a bigger chassis to a smaller one and changing wheels from maccunam to rubber wheels as we were not satisfied with the mounts we could connect the maccanum wheels to our robot, costing us even more precious time

Step 10: Sustainability Considerations

We tried our best to mostly use MDF wood for sustainability as 3D printing was very limited. we recycled all we could to both save time resources and energy as much as we could during the project period. The robot is easy to assemble and re-assemble again and almost all of the parts can be salvaged and used for future projects possibly by next year students on their robots

Step 11: Bill of Materials

 our final bill for everything we used in our project came down to 50.65 euros which is a quarter of our allowed project allowance.

Step 12: Team Work

Aryan Torabi

BCs in mechanical and construction, Current BRUFACE Master, I was engaged mostly in selecting and building the electronic circuit, Sensors, motors and programing the board with a small help in designing and modeling the frame.

Hamza Yousaf

My Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering and already has some experi ences with robotics in bachelor. I was engaged mostly in CAD , Laser cutting Regarding our project,I learned a lot about electronics, Arduino, and project management.

Sandra Salloum

Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, in this project I was en gaged in selecting the appropriate design for our robot, Laser cutting/ 3D printing, and joining the different parts of our robot. I learned a lot about electronics, sensors and Arduino. Also, I have developed problem-solving and teamwork skills.

1Mansoor Ali Sabir

I hold a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering and am presently an Erasmus student at VUB. During this project, my role encompassed contributing to the design, as well as working on Arduino programming and electronic circuits. The project was instrumental in enhancing my design abilities, and I gained practical experience in laser cutting and 3D printing of components. Additionally, it provided an opportunity 24 for me to engage in brainstorming sessions to generate innovative design ideas.

Mohamad ELMASRI

I’m Mohamad ELMASRI, a double-degree student in the BRUFACE program’s Master of Electromechanical Engineering. This year, I made the decision to continue my education in Brussels after completing my bachelor’s degree at "Lebanese University."For this project, the me chanical component takes up the majority of the time. Drawing and sketch realisation, CAD design, production, and assembly have been my primary areas of concentration. Due to my strong interest in the f ield of design, I have found that this project has been most enjoyable in its design aspect. Working with new teammates and picking up new skills from them has also been an experience for me. In addition to laser cutting, I also have some experience with 3D printing

Step 13: Prototype