MSE 6 Mouse Droid

Including the Indigenous

Comment

Inspiration

Witnessing the devastating forest fires and understanding the perilous situations faced by the indigenous communities moved us profoundly. Their timeless connection to the land and their invaluable knowledge deserves respect and protection. The question was simple: How can modern technology ensure their safety and the preservation of the forest?

What it does

MSE 6 Mouse Droid is the forest's vigilant protector. Using a temperature sensor (soon to be replaced by AI), it scours the forest for early signs of fires. Upon detection, alerts anyone nearby using a buzzer.

How we built it

We used two continuous servo motors for locomotion. We also used roller skate wheels for the front, giving it a wide range of motion. To make it more sustainable to produce, we used recycled plastic for the chassis. The microcontrollers used are Arduino Unos.

Challenges we ran into

  1. There were no good fire detection models for FPV, hence we used data from OpenCV to train our own model.

  2. The ESP32-S3 module was not able to load the AI model. Hence, we decided to use a thermal sensor for the prototype.

  3. One Arduino did not have enough pins for controlling all the components. We were able to link multiple Arduinos together in order to achieve all the functionalities.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

  1. Building a working prototype in one night.

What we learned

  1. How to work with ESP32-S3 (somewhat)
  2. How to train CNNs using Tensorflow.

What's next for MSE 6 Mouse Droid

  1. Implementing AI recognition using Raspberry Pi.
  2. Sending location data to control centre for rapid government response.
  3. A central power source for easy of charging.
  4. Water tank and hive mentality for first response fire fighting.
Share this project:

Updates