Design of sub-systems for GPS-guided autonomous delivery robot system

Abstract

The use of autonomous robots for delivery services is a new potential goldmine. Furthermore, since the e-commerce and delivery industry are growing at a rapid rate, it is recommended that a system that could handle the high-volume traffic as well serve as a new customer attraction, be implemented. Therefore, this work aims to develop the Autonomous Delivery Robot System (ADRS) that could be utilized for delivery services. The ADRS uses the Arduino microcontroller to run a program. The developed system consists of three main components (sub-systems), namely, mobile robot, cloud server and mobile application. The mobile robot is equipped with a tracking and an obstacle detection system to maneuver it autonomously. The ultrasonic sensors are used for obstacle detection, coupled with a Global Positioning System (GPS) to enable it deliver packages to customers in a typical outdoor environment. The ADRS ensures a human-contactless and secure delivery by using a password protected container to carry the delivery packages. Only the customer can unlock the container using the provided password via mobile application. The mobile application with customized map based on Google Maps is created to provide the user with an interactive interface. A camera is also attached on the robot for real-time monitoring purpose. The performance of the ADRS has been evaluated to determine the functionality of the developed system.