The problem CamoBot solves

Militaries all over the globe have seen a greater use of technology in its routine drills as well as for tactical planning before going into any skirmish. Soldiers are being deployed to places which we haven’t even heard of. CamBot is designed to make their lives and functioning of these soldiers much easier by going in the forward lines and gathering the crucial data in terms of geological aspects, enemy camp locations, terrain data etc. It uses a secure network relay to transmit the data to the users, almost eliminating the chances of data theft by the enemies. Also, it can run on very low bandwidth of frequencies increasing the range of the data transmitted. CamoBot has all of the necessary sensors required for its smooth functioning. The working of sensors are provided in the attached document. CamoBot has a number of mechanisms which also are described in detail in the document along with their pictorial representation.

Challenges we ran into

1. The first challenge we faced was to hide CamoBot. If it is visible it won't be able to collect valuable data. To counter that we opted the nano thin film screen as a display, covering the entire outer surface. Nano thin screens worked great as they were flexible meaning they could take on possibly any shape which our outer cage structure had and they were hard and tough too meaning they could resist minor to moderate impacts. This way we were able to project the hidden surface onto the shell, giving it the ability to hide in plain sight.

2. Next thing we had to tackle was the wall climbing part. Without this mechanism, the bot would not be of much help. So we looked around for inspiration and saw ants, learned how they traveled up and down walls without leaving a trace, and have tried to replicate that mechanism and implement in CamoBot. What is does is it pours water between the suction cups and the wall, eliminating all air in between, ensuring a very tight hold. This mechanism is called the Liquid Pressure Suction Mechanism. These suction arms will move to help CamoBot climb the wall. To provide the directions to CamoBot worm and wormwheel mechanism has been used in all the four legs of the bot.

3. We had already decided that for ground movement we would opt for the tried and tested wheels, as they would help move quickly if we need to escape. But then the problem we faced was, how would such a robot be able to go from floor to wall? For that we seperated the CamoBot into 3 divisions, 2 arms and one central body. The central body holds all the necessary hardware and electronics along with the suction mechanism for the legs, and the arms will hold the wheels. First the central body will turn 90 degrees through the use of a geared stepper motor and attach to the wall with suction caps faced down, and then pull the side-arms back throught the use of same stepper motor. Similar turning mechanism will be used again for transition from the wall to the ground.