MTE Capstone Group 46
What?
This project aims to develop a low-cost self-balancing robot that can be used as an autonomous information kiosk on a university campus. The robot is designed to navigate the campus environment, providing students and visitors with real-time information and assistance. It features a user-friendly interface and modular design, making it an ideal platform for individuals without robotics experience to work with and expand upon. The project emphasizes affordability, accessibility, and adaptability, ensuring that the robot can be easily customized and upgraded to meet various needs and applications.
Bracket Bot is a $600 open-source robotics dev kit
With Bracket Bot you can…
- Learn and implement robotics algorithms
- Build a physical version of FaceTime
- Add an arm and make it useful!
- And so much more
How to get started
Documentation is available here
Source code is available here
Members
Jai Prajapati - j2prajap@uwaterloo.ca
Angad Bajwa - a29bajwa@uwaterloo.ca
Brian Machado - bmachado@uwaterloo.ca
Ivan Yevenko - iyevenko@uwaterloo.ca
Why?
The motivation behind this project stems from several key challenges and opportunities identified on university campuses. Firstly, existing robotic platform solutions are often prohibitively expensive, making them inaccessible for widespread use in educational environments. These platforms also typically require extensive setup and technical expertise, which can be a barrier for students and faculty who wish to integrate robotics into their learning or research without a steep learning curve.
Additionally, current information retrieval points on campus, such as static kiosks or bulletin boards, are often cumbersome and not user-friendly. They can be difficult to update and may not provide real-time information, which is crucial for a dynamic campus environment.
By developing a low-cost, self-balancing robot, this project aims to address these issues by providing a more accessible and adaptable solution. The robot’s modular design allows for easy customization and upgrades, ensuring it can evolve with the changing needs of the campus community.
Moreover, this project fulfills the capstone project requirements by integrating interdisciplinary skills and knowledge, including mechanical design, electronics, and software development. It provides a practical application of theoretical concepts learned throughout the course, offering students a valuable hands-on experience in solving real-world problems.