Mobile Phone as a Sensor for Robot Navigation System

This article presents the results of research of a robust reconnaissance system. The system presented consists of two or more cooperating robots that use a mobile phone as their control unit. The robot is controlled via sockets from a remote server using the GSM standard, and the control of the hardware peripherals is done with FT312D circuit connected to a microprocessor. This solution seems to be inexpensive and user-friendly. The designed robot can determine its relative position based on photographs made by a general optical sensor. The photographs are subsequently processed on the server. The research work describes a method for detecting and determining the size of an object, while the object detected in a photograph is measured based on precise moves of the robotic device. The design reduces movement inaccuracies caused by chassis slipping on the terrain by using another robotic device. Thanks to the rapid progress of mobile phone technology development and the ever-decreasing purchase costs, it is now possible to use a mobile phone as a source of sensors and as a means of remote communication. This article presents the complete design of the system, the procedure for processing of the photographs, the algorithm for estimating the distance as well as a theoretical vision of autonomous navigation.