Mobile Mobile

The last decade has seen an increase in demand for various household robots. The most popular among them include the Roomba which vacuums households and Sopo, a robot that brings its user drinks.  In general, all household robots only serve their specific need and cost in the range of $500 or more.

We note from personal interviews and online articles that many people feel “lost” if they do not have their phone by their side. We also note that the most common gap in this is when users are charging their phone, during which the phone must be near a wall socket while the user may not necessarily be there during the entire charging duration. With a surge in the number of people owning smartphones and needing to charge their phone, there is yet a household robot that helps its owner by transporting his/her smartphone from the charging port to the owner. We propose to build a mobile docking robot that does precisely this - the Mobile Mobile!

Our design will consist of building a three-wheeled robot that uses the onboard phone for image processing and Arduino for motion control. Although imaging processing is technically challenging, it allows the Mobile Dock robot to detect the user without him/her having to wear any tracking device. All three wheels will also be capable of rotating 90 degrees to ensure maximum maneuverability for the robot as it navigates the household environment.

A functional Mobile Mobile robot will not only be able to deliver the owner’s phone personally to him/her from the charging station but also be able to navigate the household environment while doing so. A reasonably priced robot will then cater to the 200-Million smartphone owners who struggle with the daily inconvenience of having to charge their phones. When your phone needs charging, simply place the phone on the phone mount at the charging station, and go about your tasks! When your phone rings, Mobile Mobile will bring your phone to you. This way, you can do anything you want eeven when your phone is charging and not worry about missing an important phone call.