The Future

Whenever the idea of a contemporary world arises, the human mind seems to picture a scene from George Lucas’ fantasy Star Wars. The idea of droids floating around like servants, and technology on the cutting edge is one that is admired by children and adults alike. Though our generation is not ready for an R2D2, we are getting quite close. The future of this technology lies in the MAID system, our own solution.

MAID systems:

M odern
A utonomous
I ntelligent
D evices

The MAID systems are a hub of robots. They come together at a charging area. There are four components of the MAID systems.

Mower
Automatic Vacuum Cleaner (AVC)
Integrated security
Database

Problem Resolution:

As stated previously there are 5 main problems holding Household Robotics back. They are:

1. It is very difficult to build a robot capable of navigating the contantly changing terrain of a house.

2. Supplying power to the robot can be challenging.

3. The current state of AI makes robot behavior unreliable.

4. Safety issues, robots that are capable of heavy lifting and other tasks can be a danger to people in their home.

5. Machines built to overcome obstacles 1-4 can become extremely expensive and out of reach of the common consumer.

Our MAID system will solve these 5 problems in the following ways:

1. All the robots in the MAID family will be in constant RF communication with the base station, constantly updating the internal mappings that all the componets will share. In addition, a variety of commonly available and inexpensive sensors will be feeding the individual robots environmental data so that they can easily plan their paths and avoid obstacles.

2. Each robot will carry enough battery power to last for 6-8 hours and will return to the home charging station or nearest charging station when needed.

3. Advanced behavior based AI will be used in all the robots, in addition the base station will be an extremely powerful computer that can communicate with and control the individual robots when needed.

4. The robots will all have a variety of safety stop devices that can be activated by touch or voice.

5. The robots will use as many off the shelf componets as possible in order to cut down on costs. Custom made componets will be used only where necessary.

The Mower

The mower component helps to keep grass at a steady height. You can set the height on a 5.3 inch LCD display screen. It works quite a bit like the automower. The robot cuts up the grass so fine that it provides a natural fertilizer that decomposes quickly. The automower has a security code so that thieves can not steal it. A polyurethane coating makes the mower weatherproof. The automower is priced lower than its competitors. The automower is 1,500 dollars, however, the Mover portion is only 700 dollars. The difference between other mowers is also that the Mover can handle 20,000 square feet of lawn, that's two thousand more than the average automover. The Mover has four pivoting steel blades, and two independently driven wheels.

Automatic Vacuum-

The price for this component is 200 dollars. The automatic vacuum will function in a way similar to the Roomba and will roam the house vacuuming when needed. The vacuum componet of MAID will also keep track of the amount of cleaning it has done in each room and check those rooms and areas more frequently as they may need cleaning more often.

The Integrated Security Component-

• The integrated security component is hooked up to the house and is programmed to sound an alarm and page the human when a burglar tries to get into the house. This system was put into the center of the robot, and is solar-powered with a back-up battery in case of emergency. The robot can also be programmed to light up and spin in case the human is deaf. The robot is also programmed to call the local Smith Thompson Security Systems area and contact authorities. The security system will also have a remote video with active pan-tilt-zoom. It has a 2-way audio at the incident site, and moving objects are able to be seen, even at night with a new moon and no streetlights. It also has an automated response to the point of intrusion, and can place "footprints" where the intruder is located. (link to a map of what the robot does: http://www.mobilerobots.com/motiontracking.gif )It patrols the area of work 24/7 if needed. It costs approximately $1,000.

Database-

• The database is on three wheels and has a monitor on the top that connects the whole MAID system together. For example, when the integrated security component finds an intruder, the footprints will show up on this monitor. The database has all the functions of a PDA, and also can do more, like follow someone around the house (if it is told to). The total price of this component is 300 dollars.
The total price is $2,200 dollars