Development of an educational robot based on smartphones and cloud architecture and evaluation of its performance

• Grant number: 16/01644-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2016
• End date: August 31, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Interdisciplinary Subjects
• Principal Investigator: Rafael Vidal Aroca
• Grantee: Victor Luis Pires Kusumota
• Host Institution: Centro de Ciências Exatas e de Tecnologia (CCET). Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCAR). São Carlos , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 17/20702-0 - Development and integration of a web server system based on smartphones with cloud architecture for an educational robot, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

This project proposes the design, development, validation and performance analysis of an inexpensive educational robot able to interact with users using a smartphone as a control unit, which in turn uses cloud services to perform pattern recognition tasks. The proposal includes the mechanical and electronic design of a mobile base with wheels for robot displacement, serving as a physical support for the smartphone. The proposed robot uses features of the Android platform and cloud processing tools for recognition and speech synthesis, recognition of visual patterns seen by the smartphone camera, as well as simplified personality simulation robot through patterns displayed on the mobile screen. The robot will be programmed with interaction algorithms about subjects such as portuguese, mathematics and other disciplines, and will be integrated with an extension project of the Federal University of São Carlos, already ongoing, which uses robots in public schools to increase motivation students of elementary and secondary education and arouse interest in students for careers in technology. The performance of the cloud pattern recognition systems will be evaluated using statistical tools and the result of the interaction with the students will also be evaluated. All diagrams, codes and other materials will be made available openly for interested community through open source licenses.