Tarun Agarwal, Matthew Deutsch, Madhav Singhania, and Insik Yoon FollowMe Tarun Agarwal, Matthew Deutsch, Madhav Singhania, and Insik Yoon

Project Concept & Motivation Concept: The FollowMe device is used in conjunction with mobile objects such as shopping carts to follow around an individual while they are navigating through a grocery store Motivation: Currently, shoppers generally have their hands on their shopping cart while navigating through grocery store. With the use of FollowMe-equipped carts, users can be hands-free at all times, do not have to worry about lugging their carts around, and will not forget where they’ve left their carts. This product can be especially useful for disabled persons.

Competition No competing commercial products Don the Robot (Junko Isawa of University of Tsukuba, Japan) Autonomous Navigation of a mobile robot in indoor narrow environments Robot can follow a human using two laser range sensors, and keep a safe distance between itself and a human The laser range sensors cost upwards of $4000 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nnvi-Sn1BI B.O.S.S. (Gregory Garcia of University of Florida) Robotic shopping cart Uses an ultrasonic range finder Slow, and often runs into the user Cost: >$1000

Requirements Functional Timing Reliability Follows a specific user as they move about Can distinguish between users Will avoid bumping into obstacles Maintains same distance from user Timing Responds to user’s movement within a second Reliability Starts beeping and stops moving if loses track of user

Technical Specifications Hardware: Multiple Sharp GP2Y0A02YK0F’s (Long Range Infrared Proximity Sensor) 1 Cerebellum (fast, low-cost microcontroller) Many resistors 2 Battery packs 2 protoboards Mechanical robot (2 DC Motors with wheels, a board to hold the Cerebellum) Serial/USB Cable Software: Will be coded in C in a text editor, and uploaded to Cerebellum using WinAVR Protocols: TBD