Mini-SPERO: Personal Servicing Robot During Self-Isolation

During the Covid-19 pandemic, it is important to have systems that support patient recovery, for example, a robot that can help in delivering various medical supplies to patients. This paper describes the process of designing a low-cost robot that can be used for helping patients during their self-isolation. The robot is composed of two main parts: a manipulator and a mobile base. The manipulator�s joints were made using a 3D printer articulated by several DC servos, whereas the mobile base was constructed using three DC motors equipped with omni-wheels. Both parts were controlled using a single Raspberry Pi that provides all means for data acquisition, control, and communication. The manipulator was also designed with the ability to avoid fall over by adding a controllable beam that works as a balancer. On the other hand, the mobile base was also equipped with a proximity sensor that can be used to measure the distance of objects surrounding the robot. The manipulator can be controlled by using a PID or a Fuzzy controller. From the experiment, we observed that the Fuzzy controller has a slower response compared to the PID one with a difference between 0.23 and 1.07 seconds. For the mobile base, we used only an inverse kinematics proportional controller with odometry calculation that results in the smooth robot movement with error at about 9.5% on the x-axis and 8.1% on the y-axis.