Inspiration
As we were brainstorming for ideas, we wanted to build a product that could serve many people and ensure it is customizable for various events. We wanted to make a multipurpose robot that could do many things, such as interact with people during meetings, guide people to places that they are unfamiliar with, and also bring joy to the masses. We came up with the idea of asking questionnaires from the users, and react accordingly through the screen to ensure that we could bring enjoyment for all its users. We didn't just stop there, as we made it generalized enough such that it is very easy to use for various events with just slight edits in the code.
What it does
It is a multipurpose robot that would interact with users around it. First, it would be moving around randomly until it identifies a user that would want to interact with it in a social event. Upon interaction, the robot will stop moving and proceed to give users choices that they could choose from. For our example, we did a simple questionnaire on how the person is feeling currently, and based on their answers, we would try to make them laugh, and even give various emotional choices that would fit in with their current feelings. From a business perspective, we inserted ads such that it is not only engaging, but would actually allow users to pay attention to the ads by adding a narration plot that leads to the ad. From the perspective of making it customizable, we have had various ideation templates that could work. For example, the robot could be in meetings taking attendance from all the board members, it could be out in the open making a poll with random strangers, and use the data to gain a social conclusion. There would also be times where it could be used in social events, and it would interact with users by giving them information about the event and also leading them to people that they would want to talk with.
How we built it
We used raspberry pi to power the monitor, which runs the program on HTML and CSS. For the navigation of the robot, we have used ultrasonic sensors to detect the distance and direction of users, and use Arduino to run the navigation code that would allow the robot to approach people randomly.
Challenges we ran into
There were lot's of obstacles that we had to overcome, such as motor controllers not running properly, raspberry pi unable to connect to GT wifi, and also the HTML code not working as intended. However, through thorough debugging, we have managed to identify the problem and come up with solutions and ensure that it works as intended.
What we learned
We learned that there are many problems that could cause delays to our plans, and it costs lots of time for debugging and also fixing problems. This is crucial as it would teach us to plan for the unexpected in the future.
What's next for Byte Bot
We would aim to manufacture Byte Bot such that it would be usable for all the various events that were listed, and even much more. Through our templates, we could then possibly come up with a business plan and project our product in the market, which we think would make a major impact, especially for event management companies and restaurants.
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