International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD)

Volume 3 Issue 5, August 2019 Available Online: www.ijtsrd.com e-ISSN: 2456 – 6470

Automatic Floor Cleaning Robot using Encoder

Kyawt Kay Thwe, Zaw Myo Tun
Department of Electronic Engineering, Mandalay Technological University, Mandalay, Myanmar

How to cite this paper: Kyawt Kay Thwe | ABSTRACT

Zaw Myo Tun "Automatic Floor Cleaning This research work is based on design and construction of a floor cleaning
Robot using Encoder" Published in robot with two modes – automatic and manual mode. It supports automatic
International mode in this paper. IR sensor is used to avoid the obstacles and change left
Journal of Trend in direction after right direction and it is mounted at the front side of the robot. It
Scientific Research is applied to meet the U-turn movement for complete coverage navigation by
and Development using optocoupler based encoder feedback. In this system, two motors (555 dc
(ijtsrd), ISSN: 2456- gear motor) are used with L298 for robot movement, and other (12V dc)
6470, Volume-3 | motor is used with MOSFET driver to control the speed of the cleaner. The
Issue-5, August IJTSRD25253 wireless connection between remote control and robot is established by using
2019, pp.157-160, RF module. In U paths, the robot moves forward direction and turn left if it is
https://doi.org/10.31142/ijtsrd25253 detected wall and turn left again and move forward direction. Battery
percentage, cleaner speed, movement of the robot and selected mode are
Copyright © 2019 by author(s) and displayed on the LCD. ATmega328P microcontroller- based Arduino UNO
International Journal of Trend in Scientific board are applied as the heart of the system. Simulation test and experimental
Research and Development Journal. This test are utilized for stable response in domestic application.
is an Open Access article distributed
under the terms of KEYWORDS: Arduino, Encoder, IR sensor, Optocoupler, RF mode, U-turn
the Creative movement
Commons Attribution I. INTRODUCTION
License (CC BY 4.0) Every day, household cleaning is a repetitive task carried out by a number of
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by people. In developing countries, a broom is the most essential cleaning tool and
/4.0) the use of the broom is not efficient in cleaning surface and time consuming. [1]
The main aim of this system is to create an artificially II. BLOCK DIAGRAM
intelligent cleaner that would require less human guidance Figure 1 shows the system block diagram of automatic floor
and time. Existing vacuum cleaners in the market are not cleaning robot. The robot can be switched between
only expensive but also large in size and it needs a lot of autonomous or manual operation at the push of a button on
human energy and effort. the robot. In automatic mode, robot performs all the
operation itself and changes the lane in the case of hurdle
Cleaning robot is an electromechanical machine and used for detection. IR sensor is used for obstacle detection at front
various purposes in industrial and domestic applications. side of robot. If any object appears in the robot, IR sensor
Robot appliances are entering in the consumer market. Many detect the object and send signal to microcontroller and
related appliances from various companies have been robot change the lane automatically. The system needs three
followed. Initially the main focus was on having a cleaning motors- one motor is used to rotate the brushes and two
device. As the time pass on many improvements were made motors are used to drive the wheels with encoder feedbacks.
and more efficient appliances were developed. [2] In OLD
STUDY [3], the robot is based on PIC16F877A and the main
purpose of project is that it is used as VACUUM cleaner and
inspection robot. In this project many applicationS CANNOT BE
USED at a time due to the low functionality.

In this research, a floor cleaner robot based on Arduino UNO

has been developed. Unlike other floor cleaner robots this is
not a vacuum cleaner robot: it performs only mopping
operation. Microfiber spinning brush is used for mopping
and it works on 12V supply. Brushes are placed at the front
of the robot in order to collect the dust while moving. When
the robot is on auto mode (U-turn mode), it moves forward
and perform cleaning action. If the wall or obstacle detected Figure 1 System Block Diagram of Automatic Floor
in front, it will turn back periodically right after left and left Cleaning Robot
after right and execute the cleaning action also. In manual
mode, the movement of the robot and speed of the cleaner III. HARDWARE DESIGN CONSIDERATION
are controlled by the user from remote control. The robot 1. RF receiver (LR45B)
can be used to a desire area of a room by controlling it LR45B is a wireless receiver module as shown in figure 2
manually from joystick with remote control via RF module. and it has a high sensitivity and remote control, which has -
112dbm sensitivity and it can use that in a long distance

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 International Journal of Trend in Scientific Research and Development (IJTSRD) @ www.ijtsrd.com eISSN: 2456-6470
reaching up to 200m. The module has a small size, low 4. Encoder reading
power consumption and it can save the space and energy. It For detection the pulses from left and right wheels, ITR9813
has voltages between 4.5V and 5.5V, its frequency is 433MHz as shown in Figure 5 module is applied. The ITR9813 consist
which has a peak current of 5mA. This module has maximum of an infrared emitting diode and an NPN silicon
receiving rate of 4.8kbps.[4] phototransistor, encased side-by-side on converging optical
axis in a black thermoplastic housing so that the
phototransistor receives radiation from the IR LED only.

Figure 2 RF Receiver (LR45B) Figure 5 ITR9813 optocoupler

2. Arduino UNO When encoder does not allow between IR and

Arduino UNO is used for transmitter side. It is a phototransistor, phototransistor will be off and output at
microcontroller board based on the Atmega328p. It has 14 collector will be HIGH stage. If there is a light between then,
digital input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM phototransistor will be on and collector voltage will be in
outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz quartz crystal. Figure 3 LOW voltage.
shows the circuit diagram of transmitter circuit. Pin 2,3,4
and 5 are used for digital reading for cleaner speed up,
cleaner speed down, U-turn activation and U-turn
deactivation. Four 10kΩ resistors are used for pull-down
which cause LOW state when the buttons are not press. For
radio transmission, 433MHz radio transmitter is used. It is
connected to Arduino hardware serial transmit pin. Joystick
module has two potentiometers and they are scanned by A0
and A1 pin of Arduino UNO. Two of 3.7V batteries are used
for power and build-in 5V 1A regulator generate 5V for
switches, potentiometer and RF transmitter.[5]

Figure 6 Square wave transformation circuits for ITR9813

Although ITR9813 gives good response in the form of square

wave at low frequencies, it gives round shape at higher
frequency and it cannot be directly connected into interrupt
pins of microcontroller. The square wave transformation
circuit is needed to compare that round wave with a
constant DC voltage. It can be solved using LM358N
Figure 3 Arduino UNO microcontrollers operational amplifier in open-loop non-inverting comparator
mode as shown in Figure 6.
3. IR sensor module
This module is inexpensive solution for an obstacle 5. Robot Driving Motors
avoidance sensor, perfect for robotic projects and very easy
to interface directly with Arduino and compatible boards. It
also works with two potentiometers one to control
frequency and the other to control the intensity.[6] It
includes 4 pins header as shown in figure 4.

Figure 7 TAKANAWA 555 Metal Gear Motor

DC gear motor shows in figure 7 that has specific features-

high speed, high torque, low power consumption and low
noise. The module has simple machine structure, easy
maintenance and long service life. The specification of DC
Figure 4 IR Sensor module gear motor up to 80 rpm,1 2V 2.5A maximum draw. [7]

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6. Cleaner Motor V. SOFTWARE DESIGN IMPLEMENTATION
The user can start the cleaner for manual mode or U-turn
mode by switching on the remote control. Serial
communication of 1200 bps is applied to meet RF module
recommendation. At receiver, 1200 bps is used for matching
as transmitter side. Figure 11 represents U-turn movement.
It will check IR sensor for obstacle or wall. Whenever it
detects wall, check encoder 1 and 2. If encoder 1 is less
than140, the robot will turn left and encoder 2 is less than
140, the robot will turn right. In this system 140 encoder
Figure.8 Gearmotors JGY370 Worm Gearmotor pulse makes a full turn back movement. After turning back,
IR sensor will be check again and it will drive forward until it
For cleaning operation, gear DC motor with micro-turbine doesn’t detect obstacle.
worm is applied. DC gear motor show in figure 8 can be rated
to 150 rpm at 12V and 24 kg.cm torque. [8]

IV. HARDWARE DESIGN CONSIDERATION

Figure 9 Circuit diagram of Floor Cleaning Robot

The L298N is used for driving two DC motors for vehicle at

the same time. The module can drive DC motors that have
voltages between 5 and 35V, with a peak current up to 2A.
The input 1 and input 2 pins are used for controlling the
rotation direction of the left side motor, and the inputs 3 and
4 for the right side motor. The switches of the H-bridge
inside the L298N IC can be controlled by using these pins. If
input 1 is LOW and input 2 is HIGH and the motor will move
forward, and vice versa, if input 1 is HIGH and input 2 is
LOW and the motor will move backward. In case both inputs
are same, either LOW or HIGH the motor will stop. The same
applies for the inputs 3 and 4 and the motor B. A0, A1, A2
and A3 pins (or pin 14, 15, 16 and 17 pins) are used for
above two motor. Figure10 Flowchart for U-turn Movement

IRFZ4N n-channel MOSFET transistor is designed to switch VI. SIMULATION TEST

heavy DC loads from a PWM pin of Arduino. Its main purpose The program is written using Arduino IDE (Integrated
is to provide a low cost way to drive a DC motor for the Development Environment) and the serial debugger is
robotics applications. IRFZ44N can be used up to 55V and applied for computer-based debugging. For I2C (Inter-
49A current draw which is well enough for 12V 2.5A cleaner Integrated Communication) LCD (Liquid Crystal Display),
motor. PCF8574 I2C module and 16x2 line LCD is applied in this
simulation as shown in following figures 11. It represents U-
PCF8574 based I2C (Inter-integrated Communication) LCD turn mode, encode pulse values and battery voltage are
(Liquid Crystal Display) is applied for system monitoring. A4 displayed on the second line of LCD display. At the interrupt
and A5 pins support SDA (Serial Data) and SCL (Serial Clock) pins of Arduino, square wave input is attached for examining
of I2C communication. RF receiver module is attached to encoder counter. The newest PWM value is displayed on LCD
digital pin 7 in which Software Serial communication is setup before “/255” value.
for signal receiving. IR sensor is attached to digital pin4 for
obstacle and wall detection. Arduino UNO has 2 interrupt
pins and they are applied for encoder reading as shown in
Figure 9.

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Figure.14 Encoder and Battery Level Display in U-turn

Mode

VII. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The results in section V show that encoder based robot can
Figure 11 Simulation Result for U-turn Mode also be used for exact turning action in floor cleaning robot.
Advantages of this robot are well support not only for
In this paper, the robot moves along a straight line for turning movement of U-turn algorithm but also in pattern
vertical movement of U-turn path planning as shown in like motion in short time period.
figure 12.
This system is designed both automatic and manual mode
with minimum supervision. It works on 12V supply and can
be used 3 hours. It can be charged within an hour. A brush is
placed at the front and it can be changed a new brush easily.
Manual mode helps to clean the particular place and save the
energy of the human. In automatic mode, the use of a floor
cleaner can reduce labor cost as well as time. Further, the
robot can be moved U pattern which navigate a cleaner
through a room to complete coverage navigation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The author would like to thank all the teachers from the
Department of Electronic Engineering, Mandalay
Technological University (M.T.U). And she also would like to
thank her family and her friends who have helped her during
this research work. And also, thank for Dr. Tin Tin Hla, Head
Figure.12 planning path for U-turn of the department.

REFERENCES
[1] P. B. Jarande, S. P. Murakar, N. S. Vast,N. P. Ubale and S. S.
Saraf “Robotic Vacuum Cleaner Using Arduino with wifi”
international Conference on Inventive Communication
and Computational Technologies, CFP18BAC-
ART;ISBN:978-1-5386-1974-2
[2] Prof. Taware R. D., Vaishali Hasure, Puja Ghule, Komal
Shelke, “Design and Development of Floor Cleaner Robot
(Automatic and Manual Mode)”, 2017 IJRTI | Volume 2,
Issue 4 | ISSN: 2456-3315
[3] Prof. PriyaShukla and Mrs. Simmy S.L. “Design and
Inspection of cleaning robot.” Issued volume 3, Issued 6
sept 2014.
[4] https://www.fasttech./com/product/5457400-lr45b-
433mhz-ask-wireless-remote-control-receiver
[5] https://www.tomsonelectronics.com/blogs/news/Ardu
ino-uno-specification
[6] https://www.jaycarcom.au/medias/sys_master/images
/9229278773278/XC4524-dataSheetMain.pdf
Figure13 Experimental Setup for Robot [7] https://sea.banggood.com/TAKANAWA-555-Metal-
Gear-Motor-12V-24V-DC-Gear-Motor-p-
Hardware construction of floor cleaner is showed in figure 995307.html?cur_warehouse=CN
13. The LCD display with encoder value and battery voltage
level is displayed in Figure 14. The robot can be used in [8] https://www.seeedstudio.com/ASLONG-JGY-370-12V-
public places as hospitals, libraries, schools and shop. DC-Worm-Gear-Motor-p-1887.html

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