Welcome to the TweenBot #1 Website

 

 

The TweenBot challenge

Tweenbots are human-dependant robots. They navigate to a given destination with the help of people they encounter. The robot simply advances at a constant speed in a straight line, until they meet an obstacle, be it an obstructing object or a hole/step. They then stop and must signal to passers-by that help is required. The destination is somehow indicated on the robot and hopefully they are put on the right track. The success of the journey of our Tweenbot will depend on how help-appealing it is, and how willing people are to take a moment to understand the problem and help out the little fellow.

On this website, you will find the different steps that were followed to produce our own Tweenbot. From PCB layout to CATIA models everything that was done during our project can be found here.

 

 

Result and Future perspectives

The following video clip shows our tests in lab and also puplic test in VUB Sportcenter. In terms of attraction and interaction, the Pikachu shape with LEDs and sound can attract people very well. Also, the "destination" is written in 3 languages (English, French, Dutch) to make a good impression to people. After about 5 minutes, the mission is completed.

 

Although the Pikachu robot works quite well in public test, the most important part which needs to be improved is interaction. As can be seen in the video clips, it is difficult to read the "destination" and understand the sound signals of robot. Therefore, "beep" sounds should be replaced by recorded human voice. Similar to the text, voice also needs to be recorded in many languages.