Praveen Kumar, Chennai, India

There are many models for wireless controlled robotic vehicles. Usually such robots are connected to a remote control through RF module, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi or Mobile phones. All these wireless technologies have their own limitations and are restricted to specific ranges. Like if the robotic vehicle is connected with the remote control via Bluetooth module (Like HC-05 Bluetooth Module), it can have maximum operational range up to a distance of 10 metre.If the robotic vehicle is connected with the remote control via RF module, it can have maximum operational range up to a distance of 50 to 60 metre. In this project, an internet controlled robotic vehicle is designed which will be controlled by a webpage. The webpage could be opened on any desktop, laptop or mobile.

Home Automation is the new trend among urban households. Home automation system allows controlling home appliances through a remote. The remote can be an IR remote, RF remote or even a mobile phone. An internet based home automation system could be most accessible setup because such a system can be controlled from anywhere and anytime. Like, one is returning home and before leaving office and getting into the car, he can switch on the AC of his living room so that by the time he reaches home, the living room is already cooled. Such an advantage can be availed only on a home automation which is controlled over the internet.

It is easy to switch DC devices and even control operations of DC devices using Pulse Width Modulation. When it comes to controlling the AC devices, the switching of the AC devices is also not complicated and can be easily done with the help of relays. For controlling operations of an AC device, the voltage supplied to it needs to be controlled. The AC voltage supply to a load can be controlled by a technique called Zero Voltage Crossing Detection and Fire Angle control.In this project, an AC device, a 15 Watt bulb taken for demonstration purpose is controlled using the same technique. This project is an IOT (Internet of Things) project built on an IOT board – Photon from the company Particle. So the AC voltage control is carried out over the internet.

Mobile phones are so common these days and every new technology is connecting and overlapping with the mobile domain these days. Even many embedded systems projects are being under development which involves the use of smartphones. This project is about monitoring sensor data on an Android phone. The sensors used in the project are LDR and DHT 11 which allows monitoring light intensity, temperature, and humidity. The sensors are interfaced to an Arduino Pro Mini which relays the data to an Android phone with the help of an HC-05 Bluetooth module.

Usually, the households have post paid electricity connections. On the consumer side, post paid connections have drawback that the consumption of electricity is not tracked by the consumers and many times they are shocked, when they receive high bills. The cause of getting high bills is usually not the high electricity rates but is the unconscious overuse of electricity. Prepaid electricity connections are usually suggested as the viable solution to this problem. In a prepaid electricity connection, consumer would need to recharge the amount of electricity they want to consume.In such a system, the household electricity meters need to be equipped with a system that could be acknowledged of the amount recharged by the consumer and could count down the electricity consumption from the recharged amount to zero. Once the meter reaches zero, the main supply would be automatically cut off and could be resumed only after the next recharge.

Augmented Reality and Mixed Reality are the future of human interaction with the real world. Augmented Reality is a technology that allows projecting live images, videos or media in the real-world environment along with the real objects visible through a camera or holographic wearable. The technology allows interacting with the real world environment while manipulating it through computer-generated graphical elements and virtual interfaces. It is a way of modifying the view of real world environment by a computer. In this project, Augmented Reality is used to monitor the sensor data supplied through an IOT board. The IOT board used in the project is Particle Photon.

Smart phones are the new craze and they have made life easier than ever. They are portable and always in the pockets. This portability of smartphones have led the marketers and the designers to develop services and solutions around the mobile domain. There are apps to shop online, do banking, trade stocks and uncountable day to day tasks. Then how can home automation systems remain isolated from the mobile technology? In this project, a home automation system is designed which can be controlled by any smartphone. The automation system connects with the smart phone through Bluetooth. The smart phone sends control signals to switch home appliances ON or OFF by an Android app through Bluetooth interface.

The street lights take up a lot of electricity consumption which is incurred by the government. Mostly, the street lights have Mercury or Halogen bulbs so their electricity consumption is quite higher. The street lights are already automated and start glowing only after the sunset.This project is an improvement to the existing automatic street light system. The project controls the voltage supply to the street lights based on the intensity of sunlight. Therefore, when there is not completely dark, the project supplies lower voltage to the lights and as the darkness increases with the sunset, the voltage supplied to the lights is gradually increased to full.

In any school, the classes are organized in periods and beginning of a period or break is alerted to the students and teachers by ringing the school bell. Conventionally, the school bell is rang by a peon or multi-tasking assistant. What if there would be a microcontroller based automatic school bell which rings itself according to a fed timetable. This project is the implementation of same functionality. The project is an Arduino Mega based automatic bell system which can be configured for every class of the school. It is assumed that the school has five periods organized in a day for different subjects and have two breaks in between. The first break occurs after two periods and the next break occurs after the next two periods. After the fifth period, the school is over. The project allows to set duration for each period and assign subject from a list of subjects to each period. The user can set the time-table for six days of the week from Monday to Saturday. The user can also set the duration of both the periods.

Any machine programmable by a computer and capable of performing defined tasks is called a robot. There are many types of robots and robotic cars are one among them. The robotic cars are generally used to reach out to places where it may be dangerous for humans to reach or stay due to physical or environmental conditions.The robotic cars may be used for surveillance or for performing some mechanical tasks in a remote location. The robotic cars make the most sense when they are controlled by some wireless technology. In this project, a robotic car is designed to sense ambient temperature, humidity, light intensity and detect obstacles in the path. The robot is controlled by a mobile app which connects with the robot through Bluetooth.

The blind people need assistance for moving around. They use a stick to detect any obstacle in their path and move around accordingly. They usually try to estimate the proximity with an obstacle by hitting it and try to learn its distance from them based on the sound of the hit. This project is a walking aid for the blinds which can be worn on the wrist like a band. The device designed in this project uses an ultrasonic sensor to determine the distance from an obstacle and connects with the Android phone through Bluetooth to generate a voice alert.

Mine workers have a harsh job. They have to work deep down the earth. At such depths, they are almost disconnected from the everything and everyone. Even the mobile network does not work at those depths. The loss of connectivity leads to delay in any help in case of a danger or underground mishap. This project is built to detect any danger in advance and relay alert among the mine workers. Though most wireless networks don’t work underground, small-distance radio communication can be used in such situation. The project uses a gas sensor, temperature and humidity sensor and light sensor to detect any sign of danger. The data from the sensors is sent to a computer through radio communication for continuous monitoring.

A lot of people have to take certain medicines regularly. A number of diseases like diabetes, blood pressure or heart problem are nowadays very common and the patients need to take medicines without break to keep such health issues in check. Most of the people are not punctual about taking medicines and often forget one or the other dosage.In this project, a medicine reminder system is designed in which the user can feed the schedule of their medicines and the system alerts them by sending SMS on their mobile if they miss taking a dosage. The user has to feed the type of medicine, its dosage, After or Before Food reminder, doctors name and time of the dosage in the system. The user can feed multiple entries like this.

Home Automation is the new trend in a consumer market. There are many home automation systems with different features and facilities. All the home automation systems are used to control home appliances through a remote control. The remote control can be a stationed unit or a wireless remote. The remote used for controlling appliances usually have keys or touch-based sensors.In this project, a home automation system is designed which can be controlled by gestures. The system designed in this project controls four appliances which are taken 15-watt bulbs for demonstration. The user can select the appliance to be controlled through a display which shows the list of appliances in a drag-able fashion.

Air pollution has become a serious issue in the present times. The CO2 level is increasing due to human activities. the effect of pollution is greater in closed spaces like living rooms, cars and offices. This project is developed to detect the level of air pollution and control the pollution level in a restricted area by activating an air purifier as the level exceeds a threshold limit. The system can be installed in houses, offices or cars. The project is developed in an adaptive manner. The device first takes multiple samples of air and determines a threshold level. If the level of CO2 increases the threshold level, the air purifier is activated through a relay circuit.

A home automation system allows controlling the home appliances from a remote control. The remote control can be a wireless remote or a mobile controlled remote system. In many home automation systems, instead of wireless control, the appliances are controlled by the remote station where keys or button directly interfaced to home automation circuit control switching of the appliances. In this project, similar control station with capacitive touch sensors is used to switch devices ON or OFF.  A capacitive touch sensor feeds back user input in the form of analog voltage to a microcontroller pin. The sensor works on the principle of capacitance. It can be made by a single metal plate connecting two terminals. The finger can serve as the other plate of the capacitor and air between the finger and the metal plate serves as the dielectric.

DC motors are commonly used in electronics projects. A lot of projects require controlling the speed and direction of rotation of DC motors. The DC motors have voltage and RPM ratings. The RPM (Rounds Per Minute) rating indicates the maximum speed with which the motor can rotate. The speed of a DC motor varies with the voltage supplied to it.The motor rotates at the maximum speed when it gets the supply equal to its voltage rating. For supply voltages lower than their voltage rating, DC motors rotate at lower speeds. For example, a DC motor with 18V 200 RPM rating can rotate at the maximum speed of 200 RPM when the supply voltage to it is 18V. For supply voltage lower than 18V, it rotates at lower speeds.

A lot of Arduino projects involve controlling devices running on DC voltage. The devices running on DC voltage are usually controlled by changing logic at GPIO pins for switching control or by PWM for operational control. There are times when devices running on AC current also needs to be controlled by the microcontroller.For switching control, the AC appliances are usually interfaced to microcontroller boards via relays or relay circuits. For operational control over AC appliances like controlling the speed of a fan or dimming a light bulb, power electronics comes into the picture. This project is a demonstration of operational control of AC appliances using zero voltage crossing detection.

Ping Pong has been a popular game. Sometimes back the game was available on game consoles, the desktop and mobile versions of the game also saw the light of day as the desktop computers and smartphones became rage age after the age. In this project, a desktop version of the game will be developed with the difference that the paddles of the game will be controlled through switches instead of by dragging them through the mouse.The desktop versions of the game usually allow a player to play against the computer and the player could control a paddle with the help of mouse. Since only a single mouse device can interface with the computer at a time, a multiplayer desktop version of the game cannot be realized using a mouse. In the project, an Arduino based gamepad will be designed so that two players could play the game against each other.