MARGAO
The students of Mechanical Engineering Department of Goa College of Engineering have successfully developed an automated serving robot which may be a boon for sectors such as hotels, hospitals, lodges, etc.
Against the backdrop of the challenges faced by the hospitality industry for safe delivery of services with minimum human contact in times of the Covid-19 pandemic, the students Shreyas Sudin Ambe, Desmon Antao, Aloysius Caeiro, Shreyas Patil under the guidance and support of Project Guide Prof Gajesh G S Usgaonkar, Professor Mechanical Engineering GEC, went about designing and building an autonomous programmed robotic system.
The design took into consideration service delivery to ensure social distancing protocols. The robot works efficiently with peak accuracy without any continuous inputs and monitoring by humans.
Says Aloysius Caeiro: “As per application, the design of the project is selected with three plates supported by four rods. The robot is fabricated using Fiber Reinforced Plastic (FRP) material. The robot moves using a differential drive mechanism. The differential drive robot consists of two wheels installed on a common axis controlled by two separate motors. The two supporting wheels known as caster wheels are mounted to provide stability and equal weight distribution on all wheels”.
Shreyas Patil said the system consists of lid to cover the vessel, vessel for serving food bowls, top plate for placing the vessel, middle plate to keep empty plates and bottom plate to mount components.
“The motor assembly and four wheels are installed on the bottom plate. For flexibility, the locking mechanism is provided for top plate and removable vessel so that vessel can be replaced according to the application,” he described.
Desmon Antao said the robot is equipped with Arduino UNO which acts as the brain of the robot. Since the aim of the project is to reduce human interaction, students have designed an app and website which has digitalized the menu to order food mentioning the table number. The website also has additional features like table reservation and chatbot, he said.
Shreyas Sudin Ambe pointed out that staff will command the robot to serve at the table number mentioned in the order of info received. WIFI module of circuit captures the command received from the app. Using Pixy Camera, the robot follows a fixed path which connects the kitchen to the tables. To locate the serving table, Bot will scan the bar code fixed at the table using Pixy Camera. After serving when load sensor detects no load, Bot automatically returns to its original position. An ultrasonic sensor will be employed to avoid any collisions. Provision is also made to control this system by a remote-controlled app in case of emergencies, he added.
The project was constantly encouraged by project guide Prof Gajesh G S Usgaonkar, Professor Mechanical Engineering GEC, Dr Rajesh Lohani, Principal GEC and Dr Vinay Shirodkar, HOD Mechanical Engineering GEC.
