Pinaka - A UVD(UV Disinfect) Robot

Current Scenario in World and India

Right now we are going through a very tough time, this COVID19 pandemic has hit almost all the industry and damaged the health industry severely and the most alarming situation is that we have not yet been able to invent any medications that can prevent or cure this disease even after 6 months, more than 250 countries are its victims already with 17, 889, 134 total cases, 686, 145 total deaths. Also in India, the number of cases is increasing at an alarming rate due to the large population.

How UV rays can be helpful in disinfect

You’ve probably heard about the dangers of UV-A and UV-B light from doctors and the occasional sunscreen bottle. UV-C is a higher energy form of ultraviolet radiation with a wavelength between 280 and 100 nanometers. UV-A is as high as 400nm, and X-rays start around 10nm. So, UV-C is much more damaging to living organisms than UV-A and UV-B. Luckily, UV-C from the sun is absorbed by the atmosphere before reaching us. You can, however, use artificial UV-C radiation to effectively sterilize objects. Powerful short-wavelength ultraviolet-C (UVC) lights that emit enough energy to literally shred the DNA or RNA of any microorganisms that have the misfortune of being exposed to them.

Our solution

We have provided the bill of material at the attachment section of the project in the end as a pdf file.

We are designed our solution in keeping in the mind, that its cost should be less/affordable and its hardware and software mechanisms are very easy to understand and use keeping in mind the constraints provided and safety measures.

The UVD Robot can be used as part of the regular cleaning cycle and aims at preventing and reducing the spread of infectious diseases, viral, bacteria, and other types of harmful organic microorganisms in the environment by breaking down their DNA-structure. The robot is safe, reliable, and eliminates human error. Furthermore, it is user friendly and is designed to be operated by every-day cleaning staff.

We have provided 2 hardware and 2 software mode of our UV rover, a person can use any one of the modes according to its requirements and at same the time providing various options for its use.

It is a remote-controlled rover, which requires very little assistance and the UVC lamp system that uses a PIR to detect a human and starts operating when the humans are not in its close by.

This is the first mode of UV which required very low cost to make and its software and its hardware and maintenance are required very minimal work and very easy to use.

The functionality of the UV Robot:

Disinfecting Process: It takes between 10 and 15 minutes to disinfect a typical room, with the robot spending 1 or 2 minutes in five or six different positions around the room to maximize the number of surfaces that it disinfects. The robot’s UV array emits 20 joules per square meter per second (at a 1-meter distance) of 254-nano-meter light, which will utterly wreck 99.99 percent of germs in just a few minutes without the robot having to do anything more complicated than just sit there. This is very easy to use. A person just has to remotely through his mobile operate it and wirelessly ON the UV light.

Operating mode: This is very easy to use. A person just has to remotely through his mobile operate it and wirelessly ON the UV light. It only works when there is no human being around the sensor area otherwise it remains off due to safety. We implemented a web app with integrated keys where live video feed will be available to manually control the robot. and we also provide the thermal camera in it so a person can see by his/her eyes it's working by the thermal video feed captured by a thermal camera.

We have provided the schematic in the schematic part with its fritzing file

Hardware: This hardware can be constructed using the 3D- printer, decreasing its cost.

• Wheels: We have used mecanum wheels, which provide, allowing extreme maneuverability and mobility in congested environments.

It provides all directions movement, it is at a higher cost but as our whole design at a lower cost, we don't have much increase in our bill of material. These wheels require less maintenance and a large life cycle and its function efficiently in all types of grounds and work very smoothly.

• Physical Dimension: All the measurements can be found in the design file that we attached in the attachment section.
• Safety: The system uses a PIR sensor to detect the presence of a person and then after it detects the person leaving turns on a UVc lamp to disinfect and it will automatically turn off after 15 minutes.

We have designed two modes of UV rover to ensure better safety features and save the damage to the robot, in case of a collision.

• Mode 1:-

This is the simpler version of UV rover, in this, if a human presence is detected by the rover sensor placed at the top of it, the UV lamp will be shut off and will remain shut off for nearly 1 minute, after which it started again. This is a simpler version of very low cost, and very light in weight too.

• Mode 2:-

This is a more advanced version of the UV robot, which is only slightly costly than the mode 1 version. But this version is more sophisticated, more life and it provides great safety features and collision prevention safety.

In this, if a human presence is detected by the rover sensor placed at the top of it, the glasses which are attached around the UV lamp will be closed like windows and lamp also get off. The UV rays will not able to penetrate the glass. This version can be used where more powerful lamps we gonna use as very little exposure of UV rays are harmful which will be prevented by these glasses and in case of collision of the robot with a wall or any object, these glasses will absorb the shock and protect the lamp from breaking.

When the PIR sensor senses the human presence, it will send a high signal to the servo motor fitted at the center(rectangular blue box containing motor), which will rotate by a certain degree in the right side rotating the other gears making the window closed and when the sensor sends a low signal it will rotate the gear to the left side by the same amount,opening the windows again.

Extra features in the UV robot

We have also fitted an array of UV LEDs in the lower side of the UV robot, providing extra disinfecting assistance on the ground below the robot.

The schematic of it is provided below the schematic part with the link.

SOFTWARE

I have designed two types of software to control the robot:-

Software 1:-

In this, I have created the library to operate wheels and other functions, through a GUI application(in making) to control.

• libPPCA9685 - Library to communicate with the Servo Shield via theI2T bus. Also contains methods for commanding the Servo Shields PWM output channels continuously off, continuously on, and a method for setting a channel to pulse on/off at a specific rate.
• libPWMdeviceControl - Library to control Motors and Servos. The DeviceControl class creates a thread that periodically processes up to 4 Motor objects and 16 Servo objects. Base Motor and Servo classes are defined within the library. The "Testing" section below outlines how to create, configure, and assign Motor and Servo objects to the library. Processing of the user's Motor and Servo objects results in commands being sent to the servo shield channels to accomplish the requests found within the Motor and Servo object properties.

Software 2:-

web controlled Raspberry Pi Zero W robot with live video streaming.

Main features

• Controlled via a web browser.
• Live video streaming.

Software 3:-

If you are not able to understand this software, how to use it deploys it on hardware and find it difficult, I refer you to

https://www.hackster.io/maciek85/raspberry-pi-car-with-fpv-camera-controlled-by-a-smartphone-0c0997

Our circuit design is inspired by this project and its available software with free cloud service remoteme.org. You can easily deploy their software and can control it with your own mobile.

PIR SENSOR SCHEMATIC

We are using a PIR sensor to detect human presence.

The PIR sensor when detecting human presence it will shut off the UV lamp saving the human from the hazard effect of the UV radiation and then when there is no presence of any person it will turn on again.

const int PIN_TO_SENSOR = 2;  // the pin that OUTPUT pin of sensor is connected to  
int pinStateCurrent   = LOW;  // current state of pin
int pinStatePrevious  = LOW;  // previous state of pin

void setup() 
{  Serial.begin(9600);            // initialize serial 
   // set arduino pin to input mode to read value from OUTPUT pin of sensor  
   pinMode(PIN_TO_SENSOR, INPUT); 
}
void loop() 
{

 //Configure an Arduino's pin to the digital input mode
 pinMode(PIN_TO_SENSOR, INPUT);   

 //Read state of sensor's OUTPUT pin 
 pinStateCurrent = digitalRead(PIN_TO_SENSOR);

 //Detect motion start (pin's state change from HIGH to LOW)
 pinStatePrevious = pinStateCurrent; // store old state 
 pinStateCurrent = digitalRead(PIN_TO_SENSOR);   // read new state

 // pin state change: HIGH -> LOW
 if (pinStatePrevious == HIGH && pinStateCurrent == LOW)
 {   
    Serial.println("Motion detected!"); 
    // we can place an alarm to warn human to come near it
 }
 else
 // pin state change: LOW -> HIGH
 if (pinStatePrevious == LOW && pinStateCurrent == HIGH) 
 {   
   Serial.println("Motion stopped!");
   // alarm will stop as human presence is not detected
 }

}

DESIGN SPECIFICATION:-

Physical Dimensions (WxLxH):- 2ft. X 2.22ft. X 5.2ft

3D design and we have provided the CAD file (Accessible agile design)

Fit through the standard bathroom stall door, and design can be modified according to the room in which it required.

Material:- The glass to protect UV lamps from the collision is made up of polycarbonate which is strong enough to restrain any force and can absorb radiation when the window closes.

Safety - Lamp Shut Off with Motion Sensing:- 25nJ/cm^2The wavelength of the UV lamp is 256 nmUnder the TLV level and safe for humans.

Version 1:- on the lamp top, there is a PIR sensor that on human presence will shut off the lamp.Version 2:- In this, a motor and gear mechanism will be operated which on human presence will shut the glass around the lamp and then shut off the lamp preventing any hazard to the human body

Safe/Effective method to protect people and unit

Software:- We have provided 3 types of software for user:-Offline remote-controlled by user online controlled through a web app customized control through web app using cloud service of Remoteme.org

We have provided 3 types of software. Any of these can be used and fully supported by the hardware of the UV robot.

Control:- It is remote controlled and semi-Autonomous functionality

We have provided the wheels control of the robot by remote and other functions of the UVD robot will function autonomously. So it is a semi-autonomous robot.

Cost:- ≤ $5,000

The total cost in theUS dollar and the price can be further decrease

Lower cost allows a broader audience to purchase the product.

Weight:- ≤ 10Kg,Lightweight model.

Power source:- 4 X 12V 3300mAh 3S LiPo battery 1 X mini rechargeable inverter battery

Operates a primary 12V 3300mAh 3S LiPo battery for motor driver, another 3300mAh 3S LiPo battery for microcontroller, sensors, and other hardware equipment and a mini rechargeable inverter battery for the UV lamp.

Operation Log:- As we are using raspberry pi as central hardware and we are operating the robot through a web app and using cloud service, the user can track the time and location using the GPS of mobile and mobile clock.

UV lamp:- Germicidal UV Lamp 30W, Length 3ft , Tubelight Diameter T8 (1 Inch),103 V, 0.44 A

Emits UV-C radiation 253.4 nm ideal for Killing Virus, Bacteria, Molds, Salmonella, etc. It has a life cycle of 8000 hours.

We have also enclosed a pdf below which contains the bill of material.