Universal Journal of Engineering Science 7(1): 1-7, 2019 http://www.hrpub.

org
DOI: 10.13189/ujes.2019.070101

Remote and Autonomous Controlled Robotic Car

based on Arduino with Real Time Obstacle
Detection and Avoidance
Esra Yılmaz, Sibel T. Özyer*

Department of Computer Engineering, Çankaya University, Turkey

Copyright©2019 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under
the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License

Abstract In robotic car, real time obstacle detection electronic devices. The environment can be any physical
and obstacle avoidance are significant issues. In this study, environment such as military areas, airports, factories,
design and implementation of a robotic car have been hospitals, shopping malls, and electronic devices can be
presented with regards to hardware, software and smartphones, robots, tablets, smart clocks. These devices
communication environments with real time obstacle have a wide range of applications to control, protect, image
detection and obstacle avoidance. Arduino platform, and identification in the industrial process. Today, there are
android application and Bluetooth technology have been hundreds of types of sensors produced by the development
used to implementation of the system. In this paper, robotic of technology such as heat, pressure, obstacle recognizer,
car design and application with using sensor programming human detecting. Sensors were used for lighting purposes
on a platform has been presented. This robotic device has in the past, but now they are used to make life easier.
been developed with the interaction of Android-based Thanks to technology in the field of electronics, incredibly
device. Arduino Uno has been used as the robot's brain. fast developments are experienced. In this respect, it is
The robot has many hardware components such as
possible to develop a new invention or a new application in
Bluetooth module, PIR sensor, ultrasonic sensor, and
every day and make life easier.
buzzers. It also consists of the software component that
Today, robot systems are developed with the use of
uses a mobile application. The desired direction or mode by
artificial intelligence algorithms. The robotics field is one
mobile application can be selected by the user of the
of them. The most important part of the robot is the
robotic car to control the movement of the car. The user can
control the robot movements from his/her own intelligent perception. Perceive of the environment will be important
device or take the robot in automatic mode and let the car for a robot design. For instance, it is very important to
drive its own way. Thus, the robot can flee from the identify explosives by a robot to detect a terrorist in the
obstacle and also detect live objects. The purpose of this military field by using sensors. A robot has to perceive
article is to alert the civilian and military personnel to some variables (like heat changes) around it, interpret it,
potential terrorist attacks especially in military areas with and then decide to act accordingly.
live detectable sensors. In this article, remote and autonomous controlled robotic
car has been presented in terms of obstacle detection and
Keywords Android-based Devices, Robotic Car avoidance by using sensors. The connection between the
based on Arduino, Obstacle Detection, Obstacle robot and the Android device has been established via
Avoidance Bluetooth technology. The incoming data will be processed
by Arduino Uno and according to the input value of the
user, robot action can be performed. There are two main
modes that control the robotic car by Android application
(mobile phone). These are user control mode and automatic
1. Introduction mode. A menu with buttons has been seen on the screen to
In the last decade, with the development of technology, select the actions. These buttons will be used to move the
sensors used with electronic devices have been used in robotic car forward, backward, right and left, stopping the
many areas to facilitate life. Sensors are devices that car and switching to automatic mode. By selecting
convert energy forms into electrical energy. The sensors automatic mode, the user leaves the robot control and the
serve as a bridge connecting the environment and various robot finds its way without hitting the obstacles. The robot
2 Remote and Autonomous Controlled Robotic Car based on
Arduino with Real Time Obstacle Detection and Avoidance

detects living beings that are encountered and gives used Arduino Uno R3 for robot’s brain. Also, Bluetooth
warning. The robot finds its way without hitting spot and module and the ultrasonic sensor had been used in this
when it comes to the obstacle it perceives and stops. paper. The robot scanning the placed QR codes could
Concurrently, it makes live detection with the temperature move along the road in autonomous form thanks to the
sensor and gives warning with red led on it. QR codes. It also provided voice communication with the
In this study, we carry out a novel vehicle design with Android device in the Text-to-speech feature. It also
real time obstacle detection and avoidance. To best of our moved with the help of an ultrasonic sensor without
knowledge, there is no previous study that investigates real hitting the objects around it. In this view, range
time obstacle detection and avoidance by using Arduino information was collected. In order for the motion of the
Uno and Android Platform. robot to be smooth, the deviation was minimized by the
This work is as follows. Section-2 deals with related PID algorithm.
works in this regard. Section-3 describes the working E. Amareswar et al. [5] designed a robot used for the
principles of the robotic car and system architecture. military area. Thanks to the metal detector, the robot
Section-4 shows the specifications of the robotic car and played an important role in the detection of explosives,
the materials used. Section-5 is design and implementation and the surroundings could be viewed thanks to the
of the robotic car. Section-6 gives conclusion of the paper. camera of the used Android device. This robot system
consisted of Android device, Bluetooth module, a
microcontroller (Arduino Uno), DC motors, motor driver,
2. Literature Review wireless camera and metal detector.
Premkumar et al. [6] designed robotic arm controlled
In this section, similar studies in the past have been using Raspberry Pi. The main purpose of this robot was to
explored and some of the methods and working principles add the human arm feature to the robot arm. Raspberry Pi
used are summarized. was the code written in the Python language that provided
S. S. Pujari et al. [1] designed a Robot for the working arm movement. With the Android application, the user
families that could monitor children remotely and moved the robot arm in the desired direction. Robotic arm
communicate with the camera. Raspberry Pi 3, camera control was provided in this way. The Android app was
module, Wifi and Bluetooth technology used by the robot. written in Java. Thus, the communication between the
For Raspberry Pi, the heart was defined as the Robot and Android application and Raspberry Pi was provided by
used the Phyton language to code it. the Wi-Fi connection. This communication moved the
M. R. Mishi et al. [2] designed a robotic car. Arduino robot arm to the right and left.
Uno and Raspberry Pi were used together to control robot In this study, real time obstacle detection and avoidance
in this project. GPS was also used to trace the car and the with remote and autonomous controlled robotic car based
distances between the obstacle and the path are measured. on Arduino has been carried out by using Android
The data in the cloud was used without having to be application.
online. Thus, the multi-motion system was controlled.
D. Chakraborty et al. [3] designed and developed a
robotic car using sensors and Bluetooth technology. They 3. System Architecture
had established communication between smart device and
the robot. Thanks to the phone camera, they had observed The system structure of the developed robotic car using
the living beings. The obstacles in the opposite direction various sensors is shown in Figure 1.
were prevented from colliding with the ultrasonic ranging In this paper, the robotic car consists of two modes: The
sensor. Images recorded with the camera were recorded in user control and Automatic mode. The robot and Android
the database and analyzed. device communicate with each other using Bluetooth
S. J. Lee et al. [4] designed an autonomous robotic car technology.
 Universal Journal of Engineering Science 7(1): 1-7, 2019 3

Figure 1. Structure of robotic car

4. Technical Specifications of the with Arduino via Serial Communication (USART). The
Bluetooth module can only respond to incoming
Robotic Car connection requests, so it can not send a connection
request to another Bluetooth module. The Bluetooth
4.1. Arduino Uno module has a total of 4 pins. These are VCC, GND, Rx,
Arduino Uno is the robot's brain. Arduino Uno uses the and Tx.
ATmega328 microprocessor. Arduino has 14 pins. The
most popular Arduino card is the Arduino UNO model
shown in Figure 2. It can be easily programmed with
Arduino libraries [7]. Easily programmable is the biggest
advantage of other microprocessors. Programming in the
Arduino Uno is carried out specifically in the integrated
development environment (IDE). The programming
language is selected as Embedded C language. Using
signals from sensors, it helps to design robots and systems
that affect the environment. So actions happen such as
sound and light specific to the output of the project. Figure 3. HC-06 Bluetooth Module

VCC and GND are supplied by Arduino for use in the

Bluetooth module. Arduino's Tx pin must be plugged into
the Rx part of the Bluetooth module so that commands
from the Arduino can be detected by the Bluetooth
module. Messages from Bluetooth need to be plugged into
the Tx pin of the Arduino's Rx pin Bluetooth module in
order to access Arduino [8]. A password is required to
connect to the Android device via Bluetooth module.

Figure 2. Arduino Uno 4.3. Buzzer

4.2. Hc-06 Bluetooth Module The buzzer is a device which enables to produce various
sound waves according to the voltage that is switched off.
The HC-06 Bluetooth module shown in Figure 3 According to the market, it is cheap, easy to produce, and
provides communication between the devices at a short very lightweight. Therefore, the usage area is very large.
distance of approximately 10 to 20 meters. Communicates The main purpose of the buzzer is to warn the authorities in
4 Remote and Autonomous Controlled Robotic Car based on
Arduino with Real Time Obstacle Detection and Avoidance

relation to the identified situation. Thus, it takes various rotated using direct current so that mechanical force is
inputs and emits sound according to the inputs. First, the generated.
buzzer converts the dc voltage coming from the input port
into the oscillation signal. The signal is amplified. When a
piezo-discrete high voltage is applied, it causes mechanical
expansion and contraction. This causes the inner metal
plate to bend in the opposite direction. The metal plate is
constantly twisted in the opposite direction (Figure 4), and
the shrunk iceberg produces sound waves in the air.

Figure 6. DC Motor

4.6. PIR Sensor

PIR (Passive Infrared sensor) sensor can detect a
person's temperature. It is called passive infrared because it
Figure 4. Buzzer does not emit any heat or energy. This means that the PIR
sensor uses infrared rays to detect human. The power
consumption is low and the cost is also low.
4.4. Arduino Motor Shield
The PIR sensor has two pin slots and each pin slot is IR
Arduino Motor Shield is a motor driver card using sensitive (Figure 7) [11]. Thus, the visual distance of the
L298 (Figure 5). This card is also designed to provide sensor is determined. When the sensor sees nothing, the
speed and direction control for DC Motor drive and to infrared emitted by all the objects in the room is at the same
measure their current. level and both slots are sensitive to IR level. Living things
like humans enter the field of view of the sensor with the
heat spread. This causes the temperature to change. If the
object emits heat, the temperature of the sensor changes.
The movement was perceived as a result of this change.

Figure 5. Motor Shield

Figure 7. PIR Sensor

4.5. DC Motor
4.7. Ultrasonic Sensor Hc-Sr04
Direct current (DC) motor converts electrical energy
into mechanical energy using direct current [9]. DC motor The HC-SR04 ultrasonic sensor uses Sonar (Sound
is an electric machine that works with the principle of "A Navigation and Variable) to calculate the distance to the
current carrying conductor is exposed to humid when it object. Using sonar, the distance between robot and
enters a magnetic field". The formula of the applied force is obstacle are measured. It makes the best measurement
F = BIL [10]. between 2- 400 cm.
The main components of DC motors are consist of 6 Ultrasonic sound waves have frequencies between 20
pieces. These are coils, magnets, rotors, brush, stator and kHz and 500 kHz. Ultrasonic sensors are sensors that emit
direct current source (Figure 6). In this study, the DC ultrasonic sound waves and can determine the distance
motor's purpose is to turn the wheels. The armature is between them by calculating the time it takes for them to
placed in the magnetic field generated by the coils and strike the obstacles (Figure 8).
 Universal Journal of Engineering Science 7(1): 1-7, 2019 5

2- Libraries & Android Runtime

3- Application Framework
4- Applications
The Kernel is the first layer of the Android operating
system which is used for memory management, process
management, and networking. The second layer is
Libraries and Runtime which includes all libraries on the
Android operating system are written in C and C ++. It is
Figure 8. Ultrasonic Sensor HC-SR04 invoked via java interface. This layer works with the
Dalvik virtual machine. This also serves as a kind of
The sensing range of ultrasonic sensors can reach up to translator between the application and the operating system.
30 meters under appropriate conditions. Ultrasonic sensors The third layer is application framework which is used to
have two transducers. One of them is an ultrasonic speaker determine the structure of an application for the Android
and the other is an ultrasonic microphone. With the operating system. The fourth and last layer is Applications
electronic circuit, the time between the propagation of the which provides interaction between applications written in
sound wave from the ultrasonic loudspeaker and the Java and users. Using the Bluetooth connection, the
detection of this sound wave by the obstacle and the application is connected to the robot.
reflection by the ultrasonic microphone is measured and
the distance between the obstacle and the ultrasonic sensor
is calculated as a result of dividing this time by the sound 5. Design and Implementation of the
speed (Figure 9).
Robotic Car
The robotic car is made up of an Arduino Uno, HC-06
Bluetooth module, Arduino motor shield, DC motor,
Ultrasonic sensor HC-SR04, PIR sensor, buzzer, 9V
battery (Figure 10).
In the implementation part, firstly the user should
download the "Arduino Bluetooth Controller" from
Google Play. After downloading the application, make
Figure 9. Ultrasonic Sensor working principle
sure that the Bluetooth connection is open. After entering
the application, it must be connected with the Bluetooth
module (HC-06) with "1234" password. After connecting
4.8. Arduino IDE to the application, the user should assign values to the
The Arduino IDE is a software development platform desired keys. Once the assignment is done, the robots can
that allows you to use the Arduino kits, write code, compile now send input values.
the code, and load the compiled code directly into the The data sent from the Android application to the
Arduino Uno (connected to the computer's USB port). In Arduino Uno with the Bluetooth module. Arduino Uno
this platform C / C ++ languages are used. For C / C ++ controls incoming signals and informs which signals
languages, it consists of two general functions [9]: should be transmitted to the motor driver. Thus, the robot
• setup: this function starts working at the beginning of moves in a certain order according to the inputs entered.
the program. The user can control the basic movements of the robot,
• loop: this function runs in a loop until the card power back and forth, right-left rotation, robot stop motion from
is off their own intelligent device. The user can also take the
robot in auto mode and allow the car to drive its own way.
4.9. Android Platform The robotic car can determine whether the obstacles
across the vehicle are human. If there is an obstacle in
The Android platform, which has a Linux-based existence, the red led on the robot lights up, the buzzer
operating system, is being developed by communities such sounds an alarm, and the shortest distance that can be
as Google and the Open Handset Alliance. It is an avoided is calculated and proceeded. If the obstacle facing
operating system which is low cost and open source code. the robot is an inanimate entity, it computes the shortest
Originally used for tablets and smartphones. The Android distance that it can avoid and proceeds in this direction.
operating system consists of 4 layers. Furthermore, when the robot reaches the cliff, it perceives
1- Linux Kernel the abyss and stops itself (Figure 10).
6 Remote and Autonomous Controlled Robotic Car based on
Arduino with Real Time Obstacle Detection and Avoidance

inputs from the device, process them in the processor,

Arduino Uno, and allow them to move according to the
input order. The basic movements of the robot are forward,
backward, right and left. In addition, the user can stop the
robot at any time.

Figure 10. Robotic car top view

5.1. User Control Mode and Automatic Mode

To install the app, firstly, the user must have Google
Play installed on his/her Android Device. If the user has
Google Play installed, the user needs to download the
application called Arduino Bluetooth Controller. To be
able to connect to the application, Bluetooth must be
turned on. After downloading the application, the user
should connect the Bluetooth Module (HC-06) with using
password “1234” Then, select the HC-06 and user will see
some selection. Figure 12. Assigned buttons

In the second mode (automatic), the user can take the

robot in automatic mode by pressing the automatic mode
key that the user sees in the interface of the application. In
this mode, the robot will be able to control its basic
movements. By means of the ultrasonic sensor, the
obstacles are detected by Robot at 25 cm away. When the
robot detects the obstacle, the robot stops itself and goes
back 2 cm. Then the PIR sensor will activate by the robot
Figure 11. Buttons system and detect whether the obstacle is live or not. The
Figure 11 shows how the user can change buttons on robot computes the radiated heat from the obstacle. The
the Android application. As shown in the figure, when the object emits heat, and if it can move, the robot finds that
user clicks on the symbol in the upper right corner, the the obstacle is alive. If the obstacle is a living entity the
user can assign the desired value to the buttons. When the buzzer will active and an audible alarm sounds. Then the
user presses the Start button, the program starts running. robot will escape from the obstacle and will continue on
The user can select the desired option by the select button. way. If the obstacle it perceives is an inanimate object, it
The options and values assigned in this study are as computes the distance to the farthest point away from the
follows (Figure 12). obstacle and continues on its way by avoiding obstacles in
These five options provide the basic movements of the that direction. This process continues until the user stops
robotic vehicle. When the user selects the last option the robot and exits from the application. In addition, the
which is automatic mode button in the application, the user can configure the buttons in the application interface
robot will be controlled by itself. Thus, the robot will as desired. The user can give the desired values to the
escape from the obstacles encountered and warn when it buttons.
sees a living being. In this study tracking path can be constituted by the user
In the first mode (manual), the user will be able to or by the automatic mode. According to selected option, 1-
control the basic movement of the robot through the robotic car can move with the instructions of the user with
application. User-entered inputs will be forwarded to the real time obstacle avoidance or 2- robotic car can move
robot via Bluetooth technology. The robot will receive until it detects obstacle by using autonomous mode.
 Universal Journal of Engineering Science 7(1): 1-7, 2019 7

6. Conclusions Akhil, S. Aashraya, and T. Naveen, “Multipurpose military

service robot,” 2017 IEEE International Conference of
There are many papers designed to address robotic Electronics, Communication, and Aerospace Technology
(ICECA), 2017.
vehicle with Arduino Uno, Raspberry pi and Android
platform. However, real time obstacle detection and [6] Premkumar, Keerthi, and K Gerard Joe Nigel. “Smart
avoidance by using Arduino Uno and Android Platform of Phone-Based Robotic Arm Control Using Raspberry Pi,
Android, and Wi-Fi.” 2015 IEEE International Conference
the remote and autonomous controlled robotic car has not
on Innovations in Information, Embedded, and
been studied. The purpose of this article is to alert the user Communication Systems (ICIIECS), doi:10.1109/iciiecs.
to potential terrorist attacks on the military field using the 2015.7192973, 2015.
application on an Android device. By taking input from
[7] Varshney S., Gaur, B., Farooq O., Khan Y. U. “Brain
the Android application, the basic movements of the robot
Machine Interface for wrist movement using Robotic Arm”,
are provided. Communication between the robot and the IEEE 16th International Conference on Advanced
application is made by the HC-06 Bluetooth module. The Communication Technology, DOI: 10.1109/ICACT.
ultrasonic sensor HC-SR04 is used to prevent the robot 2014.6779014, 2014.
from crashing. Thanks to this sensor, the robot manage to [8] Internet: Geleceği yazanlar, Bluetooth ile İletişim,
escapes the obstacles. In addition, when the robot comes https://gelecegiyazanlar.turkcell.com.tr/konu/arduino/egiti
near the cliff, it perceives it and saves itself from falling. m/arduino-201/bluetooth-ile-iletisim, 20.06. 2018.
With the help of the PIR sensor, the obstacle detected by
[9] Verma, S, Android App Controlled Bluetooth Robot,
the ultrasonic sensor is a person emitting heat is revealed. Internal Journal of Computer Applications, vol 152, no 9,
The audible alarm will start ringing with human detection. p.35 – 40, 2014.
Novelty of this research is the use of an ultrasonic sensor
to detect the distance of the robot's obstacle, avoid [10] Internet: Robotpark, DC Motor Nedir? http://www.robotpar
k.com.tr/Dc-Motor-Nedir, 21.06.2018.
obstacles in front of inanimate objects, and determine
human simultaneous detection. Thus, the commissioning [11] Internet: Güvenlik Online, PIR Sensör, https://www.guvenli
of such a robot can improve its effective operation and konline.com/makale/219/pir-sensor.html, 21.06.2018.
control its tasks remotely and wirelessly, possibly
resulting in an attack. This study can be further improved
by using more talented materials. The Wi-Fi module can
be used instead of the Bluetooth module. In this way, the
Wi-Fi cannot be broken as fast as Bluetooth and can be
used in a wider areas than Bluetooth.

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