Sponsor: Bartholomew Nash
Sponsor Contact: nashb1@lake.k12.fl.us
Group Members:
| Name | Major | |
|---|---|---|
| Brandon Silva | Computer Engineer | brandon.silva209@knights.ucf.edu |
| Justin TenEyck | Computer Engineer | teneyck@knights.ucf.edu |
| Lisian Shehu | Computer Engineer | lisianshehu08@knights.ucf.edu |
| Trevor Taulien | Electrical Engineer | trevortaulien@knights.ucf.edu |
Disabled and elderly people have always had a tough time living on their own. Through many different technologies, it has become easier and easier for these people to live relatively normal lives without assistance from others, like in a nursing home or assisted living facility. There are devices to help people into their showers, up and down stairs, and make food preparation and other household chores easier. With this, robotics in the home has slowly but steadily been increasing in popularity, with one the most common applications being robot vacuums for automated cleaning of household floors.
However, automatic carts or robots to move objects have little market for the average consumer, let alone someone with specific disabilities or needs. For such a common task of needing to lift or transport large bulky objects or many small objects, there needs to be a device that can reliably transport cargo from one part of a home to another, thus the need for a device like the MAC. Currently similar technologies exist for business or warehouse applications, like in hospitals to transport supplies around automatically, or moving packages around in an Amazon warehouse. These carts are big, bulky, and expensive, while needing advanced knowledge in operating the device. These are not viable for home use, or even affordable to our target demographic. According to the AARP, the average income of someone aged 65 or older is $31,742 per year, with half of the people falling below the median income of $19,604. For disabled people, the average yearly income for 2021 is around 16,000 dollars, about 1300 dollars a month. The MAC will be made with this in mind, keeping the cost within reason of someone on this type of income, unlike what is currently available
The main goal of the MAC is to automate transportation of objects around the household. Whether it be large bulky objects like laundry baskets, chairs, small tables, a container, or many small objects like groceries, cleaning supplies, folded clothes, electronics, the MAC will alleviate the need to get outside help or require many trips to move these everyday objects. Not only for those who may not be able to walk, but for those who are weakened and can not exert themselves to do these tasks. Because we are targeting an older population, the other goals of the MAC is to have an easy to use interface, along with a reliable robot that won’t require frequent maintenance or recalibration. Whether young, old, technology competent or not, the MAC should be easy to use by all.
Furthermore, because of this accessibility requirement the MAC needs to be reliable enough where it won’t require constant maintenance, calibrations, resets, tinkering etc to keep it operational. If the MAC can’t reliably offer it’s services, then it becomes useless compared to manually doing the task it is trying to automate.
Besides accessibility, the MAC is designed also with safety in mind, especially with software restrictions on operation to ensure the MAC does not damage itself or its environment. The MAC needs to ensure the safety of the user by maintaining safe following distances, give extra clearance to obstacles, and operate slow enough that it can stop or avoid obstacles without failure. This is so the MAC gives clearance to elderly people who may have walkers or wheelchairs, and disabled people who may be in an electric scooter. All of these motivations combine into our main objective: to improve the lives of disabled and elderly people by making living on their own more convenient and possible, to avoid the need for assisted living.
Initial Project Description: Click here
Initial Project Documentation: Click here
Critical Design Review Presentation: Click here
Critical Design Review Presentation Slide Deck: Click here
Final Presentation: Click here
Final Presentation Slide Deck: Click here
Final Demonstration Video: Click here
Conference Paper: Click here
Final Project Documentation: Click here