Line Following Robot With RFID Indoor Navigation System Using Arduino MEGA.

This is group project and my team comprises of Malcolm Dias, Kushal Chavan & Nageshwar Avhad.

The line following robot is type of Automated Guide Vehicle (AGV) made using Arduino which follows a particular path (generally a black/white strip) and makes its way to the destination. This path following mechanism is carried out by Infrared sensors. Also some Line followers have an Obstacle avoidance mechanism as well which is taken care of by HCSR-04 ultrasonic sensor. Like all the other line followers, this project as well consists of Infrared and Ultrasonic sensors.

But what makes this project stand out is the Indoor Navigation system introduced in it with the help of RFID reader and cards (MFRC522). A line follower just wander about its environment is of no use, so the RFID cards are placed on the track at places where the robot must stop for maybe some loading/unloading of goods. The RFID reader (MFRC522) helps to read the laid RFID cards and take a halt at the appropriate card/destination. We will now look into the components used and the details of this robot.

1. Arduino Mega
2. HCSR-04
3. IR sensors (Arduino compatible)
4. MFRC522 RFID Reader & RFID cards
5. 16 x 2 I2C LCD display
6. L293D Motor Driver Shield for Arduino UNO/MEGA
7. 4 60 RPM BO motors with wheels
8. Jumper Wires

The coding work for this project is carried out on the Arduino IDE software is a cross-platform application (for Windows, macOS, Linux) that is written in functions from C and C++.It is used to write and upload programs to Arduino compatible boards, but also, with the help of third-party cores, other vendor development boards.

The entire code can be divided into 3 parts for convenience:

1. Definition part
2. void setup (runs only once when power is given)
3. void loop (runs in repetitive manner until power is ON)

So in the definition part, we have to assign the libraries and the pins as shown in the image 1 for the sensors and the actuators. The required libraries can be downloaded as .zip files by clicking on the links below.

Newping.h

AFMotor.h

MFRC522.h

LiquidCrystal_I2C.h

SPI.h

In the Void setup part, we have the initialization of the RFID reader and the LCD along with the the mention whether a particular pin is to be used as a input or an output by the keyword pinMode.

Void loop part consists of the main code of the robot which is run over and over again and thus enabling the robot perform its function. The entire code of the project can be accessed from the link below.

ROBOTCODE

or you can refer the text file below and copy it to your Arduino IDE.

The pin connections for the Line follower robot is as given as follows:

RFID pin connections:

SDA - 53

SCK - 52

MOSI - 51

MISO - 50

GND - GND

RST - 5

3.3 V - 3.3 V

IR Sensors pin connections:

• Right sensor:

Vcc - 5V

GND - GND

INP - A2

• Left sensor

Vcc - 5V

GND - GND

INP - A3

• Centre sensor

Vcc - 5V

GND - GND

INP - A4

Ultrasonic sensor pin connections:

Vcc - 5V

GND - GND

TRIG - A1

ECHO - A0

LCD Display pin connections:

SDA - 21

SCL - 22

Vcc - 5V

GND - GND

Since the motor driver is a shield, it is directly fixed on the Arduino Mega and doesn't require any separate connections.

The Line following mechanism is carried out by the IR sensors. When the robot is given power supply, the center sensor is over the black tape / track & is at State 1 while the side sensors are at State 0 and this makes the robot to move in FORWARD direction. But if any of the two side sensors goes to State 1 along with the center sensor, the robot would turn in that particular direction hence implementing the line following mechanism.

For obstacle avoidance, HCSR-04 sensor has been used which has a preset distance associated/fed into with via the code. So when someone or something comes into that distance the robot would automatically come to a halt and then wait there until the path is cleared.

Each RFID card has a Unique IDentification code (UID) associated with it. For this project, when the RFID reader comes over a RFID card while in motion and if the both UIDs (the read and the fed in) match, the robot would halt have the details of the destination displayed on the 16 x 2 LCD display.

So in this way, all the mechanisms mentioned above should work in perfect harmony so the the line follower works and delivers the necessary output/purpose.

Make an appropriately designed body for your robot and place all the components in it in an efficient and compact manner. With this, Line Following robot with RFID indoor navigation system has been successfully completed and is ready to serve the purpose.

THANK YOU!!!