Human Following Robot Using Arduino And L298N Driver

Nowadays automation and robotics are common words. In future, we can imagine a machine-controlled world. Everywhere we need a device with automation in it. Like automatic doors, automatic fire control, and automatic appliances which can be controlled with our voice or smartphones. Where there is a huge life risk for a human being in a work, it can be done by a robot easily. Living beings have limited energy and flexibility but a robot does not lose any energy. It is also very efficient and a time saver for us. The robot is a very common and interesting thing in our minds. At this time there is a need for assistance or help. A human following robot can be a substitute for this problem.

Humanoid robotics is an innovative research field that has received considerable attention in recent years. Robotics research will resume playing an important role in many electronic applications in the 21st century and beyond. In this rapidly moving world, there is a need for robots such as “A Human Following Robot” that can interact and co-exist with them. It can help us and follow our orders. Also, it helps us in all types of working fields like industries, medical and military applications, war, construction, space exploration, underground work, etc.

In this project, we are going to build a Human Following Robot using Arduino and some sensors.

This robotics project can do the following work;

• Follows accurately a person.
• Can move in various degrees.
• Can avoid any type of collision.

Check out other Robotics Project

Project

Circuit Diagram

Components Required

• Arduino
• Ultrasonic Sensor Module
• IR Sensor Module (x2)
• 5V Servo Motor
• L298N Motor Driver
• 3.7V Li-Ion Battery (x3)
• Battery Holder
• Chassis
• Switch

About Parts for Human Following Robot

Arduino

For the compact build, I choose Arduino Nano despite Arduino UNO. Arduino Nano is a small, flexible microcontroller board using an Atmega328p chip. It can also use as a substitute for UNO. All the functions are the same in these two boards. The size of its PCB is 18×45 mm. The clock speed is 16Mhz. Its input voltage is 5-12V. There are 30 pins including power pins, data pins, analog pins, and serial pins on this board.

Ultrasonic Sensor

This is a sensor that can measure the distance of an object from the sensor position by ultrasonic sound waves. It sends ultrasonic waves of 40 KHz in the medium. If the waves are reflected on the object and bounce back to the sensor, it calculates the distance by calculating the travel time and speed of sound.

Infrared Sensor

An infrared sensor module is an electronic device that emitted infrared rays for sensing. This sensor can sense any objects in the surroundings as well as measure their heat and motion of it. The working principle of this module is so easy. The IR transmitter sends the infrared rays and after a certain distance, it gets reflected by the object. These reflected rays get captured by the receiver present in this module. Through this process, it captured data from the object.

L298N Motor Driver

This is a dual-channel H-bridge motor driver. It can control four DC motors at the same time. The range of the voltage that can be used with it is 5V to 35V.

Note: I am using an L298N motor driver in this project, but you can also use an L293D motor driver as we use only two BO motors here. But in the case of four BO motors, we should use the L298N motor driver.

PCB Design

For removing messy wiring and give a clean look, I designed a PCB prototype for this project. It is also helpful for troubleshooting that runs great without any errors. To design this PCB board, I used EasyEDA as it is too easy to use. For ordering PCB for this, I prefer PCBWay.

Gerber file for Human Following Robot Gerber.

PCB View

Order PCB From PCBWay

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How PCB Manufacturing Process Done in PCBWay

Standard quality for any product needs to be maintained using some parameters. PCBWay gives that opportunity through quality control in designing and manufacturing. At first, they ensure the accuracy, clarity, and validity of the PCB files that we sent to them.

Then all the boards will go through the most stringent tests other than the basic visual check. They adopt most of the testing and inspecting equipment used in the industry, such as Flying Probe Testers, X-Ray Inspection Machines, and Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) machines. PCBWay are having 50+ new engineers on a daily basis around the world using PCBs for their work, who trust their reliable quality. They produce high-quality pink, orange, grey, and even transparent solder mask. Moreover, according to people’s needs, they can also provide Black core PCB. Check it out for a High-Quality PCB solder mask. There are some pictures below of the new colours of solder musks.

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Working Principle of Human Following Robot

This project has a microprocessor (Arduino) and is controlled by some sensors and a motor driver. The sensors used in these project are ultrasonic sensor, and infrared sensors which help the robot to move with a person.

These sensors help the robot to avoid collisions and follow the person you want. The ultrasonic sensor does this thing for the robot. It helps to maintain a specific distance from the person. The distance is about 100 centimetres.

We placed the ultrasonic sensor at the top of our robot, as this sensor works like the eye of the robot. We attach the IR sensors on both sides of the robot.

Infrared sensors detect the distance of the object from the robot. When the beam of infrared rays is released from the transmitter, it gets reflected by the person. This reflected ray is received by the receiver and sent to the Arduino and it counts the time. Through this process, it calculates the distance.

Applications of Human Following Robot

• This robot can carry loads for a person anywhere.
• It can help people in shopping malls and public areas.
• Any vehicle or person can be followed by this robot.
• It is a good companion for elderly people.

Arduino Code for Human following Robot

We need two library files for compiling this code i.e. Adafruit Motor Shield and NewPing Library.