Petronics ECE 445 Project Proposals

Local home robotics startup

Project Idea 1: Self-docking Mousr Concept: Redesign key aspects of Mousr to enable him to seek out and dock in his charging station when low on power Challenges: Solution can only add about $2 of cost to Mousr’s BoM (at scale) Charging dock can use up to $5 of components Create signalling and active search techniques to maximize the chance of Mousr finding the charging station within 3 minutes from up to one room away Charging dock design should allow for reliable entry, secure charging, and automatic release once charging completes

Project Idea 2: Wi-Fi Mousr Concept: Redesign Mousr’s communication circuit and software to work with over Wi-Fi instead of BLE Challenges: Design, build, and test a circuit using WiFi to replace existing BLE circuit in Mousr Develop seamless process for connecting Mousr to home router with minimal user steps (process must work on iOS and Android) Replicate existing BLE Remote Control experience over Wi-Fi

Project Idea 3: Cat activity collar Concept: Design accelerometer-based activity collar for cats with BLE connectivity Challenges: Design, build, and test a circuit using accelerometer and BLE small enough to be worn on a cat collar Collect data and develop algorithms for monitoring cat activity Implement auto-pairing and communication capabilities with Mousr for features like auto-wakeup when a cat is near Mousr

Project Idea 4: Mousr + Cat Analytics Concept: Develop detectors using Mousr’s existing sensors to infer when a cat is playing and create a user-facing app activity dashboard Challenges: Collect and label data from Mousr’s sensors and an external camera with and without cats playing Develop detectors that can differentiate between real cat activity and environmental disturbances (like crashing or getting stuck) Send data to a smartphone and create a user portal to review analytics history of their cat

Advantages of working with Petronics All prototyping expenses paid Access to the hardware and software systems designers for expert support when stuck on a problem Good chance that a successful project will make its way into a real product on the market Possibility of continuing work with Petronics after graduation