Continuation of Automatic Mapping Robot

Objective:

The objective of this project is to lead the existing Automatic Mapping Robot and go a step further and lead it towards a single objective of helping with safety inspection of buildings.

Background:

Safety inspection is a very tedious task normally performed by an inspector, which leaves room for human error and mistakes that could be easily avoided by an AI. A recent example of this would be the Florida Condo Collapse on June 24, 2021, which resulted in 98 deaths. The collapse happened overnight as well, which also resulted in an increase in deaths as most were sleeping and unable to escape in time due to this. If the building was properly inspected it would have been found that the building was unstable, which AI would do by eliminating human error and making it easier to collect the raw data that needs to be analyzed.

Methodology:

We would have the robot collect dimensions for a specific area, which would then be received from tbe robot using IOT systems to be studied. Comparing the dimensions and angles beams, we would be able to gage whether or not the building is stable or needs further inspection. By being able to do this autonomously and without the risk of human error would allow us to prevent disasters like the Florida Condo Collapse

Expected results:

He expected results would be for the Robot to collect data on a room and send it to the receiver using IOT system, for which it can then be investigated further. Depending on the status of the existing project will determine how far we will be able to get, however, it is expected that we will regardless be able to strongly shift and guide the existing project to a common goal.

Costs:

The expected costs would be on buying sensors specifically ultrasonic proximity sensors, wiring, and solder (if needed) as well as a microcontroller. These parts are extremely cheap, costing no more than a few dollars each. The microcontroller will likely be an Arduino, which would be the most expensive part costing no more than $15.

Background: Currently some Buildings in Florida that are 40 years or older only need to be inspected every 10 years, which is double the time compared to in New Jersey. Within that time span buildings are able to have complications and can fail such as the recent Condo Collapse in late June that resulted in 98 confirmed deaths. This is clearly a problem and two different routes to formulate the problem are provided below, including a Duncker Diagram and a Why-Why Diagram.

Design Goals:

• The robot should be able to map out a room and take measurements of dimensions

• The robot should be able to take measurements and calculate basic stability properties such as tensile strength/stress

• The robot should be able to based pass or fail a room on findings

• The robot should be portable

• The robot should be able to fit into smaller areas and tight spaces that an adult human being would not be able to

• The robot should be able to communicate to a server to store data

• The robot needs to have a positive benefit/cost ratio

• The robot needs to be reliable with minimal to no error

Ethical Issues:

• Lack of oversight and acceptance of responsibility

  • Since this is all done using a robot, which still may reduce human error, the robot will inherently have error itself, which may result in going unchecked

• Confidentiality and Privacy

  • Since this is all done using technology and will be stored on a cloud server, it is possible for the servers to be breached and building information could be leaked

Product Liability:

• The sensors and parts on the robot will have a certain lifetime based on the conditions it is used and stored, which may result in malfunctions

• Depending on the quality of the sensors and technology available the precision and accuracy on the robot may not be perfect resulting in incorrect results

Social Impact:

• The robot would serve as a way of cheaper and more reliable labor, this would theoretically replace the jobs of many inspectors

• The electrical parts will be mostly recyclable, however, waste will be produced as not all of the components are recyclable

• Allow for easier maintenance and knowledge of structural integrity of buildings, which could theoretically prevent all buildings collapsing

Ethical Issues:

• Lack of oversight and acceptance of responsibility

  • A way to avoid this issue would be to have a third party check and verify data. This would already be much less work than an inspector doing the entire inspection on their own, however, increasing precision and accuracy severely by having someone double check work done.

• Confidentiality and Privacy

  • Data stored in a server can be password protected and encrypted. We can also force users who want to access the data servers to go through two-factor-authentication.

Product Liability:

• We can maintenance and replace parts on a routinely basis.

• Robots can be inspected and tested before use to confirm that it works properly.

Social Impact:

• Although it would eliminate jobs from inspectors, people would be needed to inspect the robots themselves and also design and maintenance the parts, which would add jobs

• A decent number of electrical components are already recyclable, however, we can try to use as many recyclable parts as possible

Senior Design Plan

Since I am not taking senior design until next year, I am not currently working on my senior design project now. In the fall of next year, I will be taking senior design 1 next semester I will be taking IDE-400. When taking these classes, I will be able to look at other projects/ideas and compare them to our current that we did in design 6. We can use all of the planning, solution development, and implementation tools learned in order to pick what project to continue with for senior design. Although continuing the current project seems likely, I still want to keep my options open.

Our next step in continuing this project would be to start design physical models and working on the implementation to develop a prototype. Once we have our first prototype we will be able to see if it is feasible to continue, or if we will have to rework our design goals and MVP.