Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people for the purpose of influencing, managing, directing, or protecting them. Surveillance is the process of monitoring a situation, an area or a person. By monitoring the certain activities or areas every time using the surveillance system, the users are able to know if something abnormal happens and further action can be taken after that. This generally occurs in a military scenario where surveillance of borderlines and enemy territory is essential to a country’s safety. Human surveillance is achieved by deploying personnel near sensitive areas in order to constantly monitor for changes. But humans do have their limitations, and deployment in inaccessible places is not always possible. There are also added risks of losing personnel in the event of getting caught by the enemy. With advances in technology over the years, however, it is possibly to remotely monitor areas of importance by using robots in place of humans. Apart from the obvious advantage of not having to risk any personnel, terrestrial robots can also pick up details that are not obvious to humans. By equipping them with high resolution cameras and various sensors, it is possible to obtain information about the specific area remotely.
Robot is an electro-mechanical machine that is controlled by a computer program or electronic apparatus. It is being used to give convenience to human by doing specific task. The robotics and automation industry which is ruled the sectors from manufacturing to household entertainments. It is widely used because of its simplicity and ability to modify to meet changes of needs. Robots are able to execute the task that impossible or beyond capability of human. From this advantage, it can give many advantages in term of safety, ease and efficiency.
The aim of this project is to develop a surveillance mobile robot that able to visualize image on-site and works on manual as well as autonomous mode. This is carried out by the following objectives. To develop a mobile robot with autonomous and manual modes equipped with camera for monitoring system using microcontroller unit (MCU) with live video streaming. To create a control unit with MCU for navigation control in manual mode. To communicate the robot and control using Zigbee wireless technology. To provide low cost surveillance robot equipped with PIR senors, gas/smoke sensors for monitoring remote area. To identify the system requirements and user requirements and to arrive at the block diagram with all the necessary interfaces needed for the system along with modeling of the software algorithm. To implement the system on a suitable platform by assembling the peripherals, also building the algorithm to the system requirements and porting it. To test the individual modules (i.e. unit testing) as well as the combined system (i.e. integration testing.
In order to achieve the objectives of the project, the scopes of work are identified as: Mobile robot with autonomous and manual modes. Limitation of controlling range is between 50 to 100 meters indoor area Working environment is flat surface Two DC motors are used for mobile robot movement Robot is equipped with gas/smoke sensor and PIR sensors.
Currently, most of dangerous areas that should be monitored regularly often use the Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) system as the medium of monitoring operation. However, this CCTV used a static camera where it is difficult to transmit the image on-site effectively because of single viewing angle for each CCTV installed. Due to this problem, manpower is used to gives a direct view to get the desired image which is indirectly endanger to the safety of human being. Dangerous environment such as radiation, high temperature, flammable and etc will risk the human life. Their safety is not guaranteed if they are directly used to execute the monitoring task. Also the designed robots can be used for human rescue during disasters and in war fields with the help of PIR sensor and IP camera.