Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
18 A Transformer
 Haobo Li
Jingcheng Liu
Shiqi Yu
Tinghua Chen
 Xiaoyue Li design_document1.pdf
final_paper1.pdf
proposal1.pdf
 Rakesh Kumar
**TEAM MEMBERS:**

- Jingcheng Liu [jl138]
- Haobo Li [haoboli2]
- Tinghua Chen [tinghua3]
- Shiqi Yu [shiqiy2]

**TITLE OF THE PROJECT:**

A Transformer

**PROBLEM:**

In some cases or scenarios, humans can not reach the location or area, so we need adaptive robotics to reach that area instead of us. The robotics that we will introduce and build is Modular Self-Reconfigurable Robotics (MSRR). MSRR can be used in many scenarios, like space exploration, disaster response, undersea inspection, education, entertainment and art. Because MSRR can reconfigure its shape and modules, it can be used for space exploration missions, where they can reconfigure themselves to adapt to different tasks and environments, and they can also repair themselves and replace damaged modules. In disaster scenarios, MSRR can adapt to changing environments or narrow and complex landform, help with search and rescue missions. In the undersea scenarios, MSRR can also work and help with inspection or building piers and tunnels. The other aspect application of MSRR is education, entertainment and art. Because MSRR can be assembled and reassembled to create different configurations, it can be programmed to create interactive artworks and installations.

**SOLUTION OVERVIEW:**

We are aiming to build a modular block system with self-reconfigurable features. Our solution will include easier lighter devices, fluent transformation and easy-to-operate interface. It’s an innovation in the field of MSRR, especially in education, entertainment and art. More concisely, we will use electromagnet to control the mechanism of block robotics. Different block robots are controlled by a central host computer through wireless signals. MCU in block robots receive signals from wireless module and control the circuit to apply positive or negative current to the electromagnet to control the rotation or suspension of the block entity. When the modular block robotics come into application, we can also install different modules on different block, but they are further study and exploration which are not included in this project.

**SOLUTION COMPONENTS:**

- Wireless control module: This module will be designed to transmit command signal from host computer to block robots. After the signal is received at the remote side, MCU in block robots will process this signal and convert it to control signals on its ports.
- Electrical control circuit: Electrical circuits will get input signal from an MCU port, then use it to control the state or polarity of 6 electromagnets on the block surface or 8 electromagnets on the corner which have 5v voltage and 3kg force.
- Mechanical entity: A 3D printed cube and 12 metal sticks on the edges. Metal sticks on the edge serve as hinges to attach different cubes during the rotation.

**CRITERIA FOR SUCCESS:**

- Wireless control module can send and receive signals, transmit data and commands from host computer to remote robotic side.
- Wireless signals can be decoded in the MCU and converted to control signals in the circuits.
- Electrical control circuits can apply the voltage we want to the electromagnets.
- Block entities can rotate smoothly around the joint of block robots with an degree of 90 and 180.
- The block entities are firm and the electromagnets, metal sticks, circuits are fixed in the block.
- Commands are useful and efficient and the dynamic process is fluent and steady.
- The interaction interfaces are simple and aesthetic, easy to understanding and control.

**DISTRIBUTION OF WORK:**

- Jingcheng Liu - Electrical Engineering: Wireless and MCU control
- Haobo Li - Electrical Engineering: Mechanical entity and installation
- Tinghua Chen - Computer Engineering: MCU and control circuits
- Shiqi Yu - Computer Engineering: Commands and codes, interaction interfaces.

Wireless Charging Table Supporting Multiple Devices with Arbitrary Placement

Kaiwen Cao, Tianyi Han, Tingkai Liu, Zikai Liu

Featured Project

# Wireless Charging Table Supporting Multiple Devices with Arbitrary Placement

# Problem

While more and more device manufacturers adopt wireless charging into their smartphones and headphones, most currently available wireless charging pads only support a single device and require strict alignment between the device and the coil. Misalignment can negatively influence both user experience and charging efficiency. In certain scenarios such as cafeterias, a table that can simultaneously charge multiple devices with arbitrary placement can be useful and COOL, allowing the users to sit wherever they like and to arbitrarily place their devices.

# Solution Overview

We intend to design and manufacture a table with multiple mobile coils placed in an intermediate layer below. Driven by step motors, a tool grabber attaches the coils using electromagnets and drop them in the right place. Computer vision will be used to recognize devices (phones, AirPods, etc.) and guide the chargers to corresponding locations. Once the coil is in place, it will first communicate with the device (Qi protocol) to verify whether the device can be charged wirelessly. If yes, the charging process will start. Otherwise, the coil will be moved back to its original location. The scheduling algorithm ensures the wires get separated and neat.

# Solution Components

* Mechanical subsystem. The main moving component of the system is a large-scale X-Y moving mechanism under the table. The coils will be placed between two panels above the moving mechanism and will be caught and dropped to the right place by the moving tool head. The tool head will be developed with electromagnets or magnets with Z-axis moving capability.

![sketch](https://courses.grainger.illinois.edu/ece445zjui/pace/getfile/18618)

* Vision detection subsystem. This includes a camera and a processing unit. It detects the locations of phones and other chargeable devices and send their positions to the control unit. In real-world settings, pre-installed surveillance cameras may be used as the video source so that no additional camera is required. Embedded GPU (NVIDIA Jetson Nano as a candidate) or cloud service can be used for image processing.

* Power supply control. It is used to control wireless chargers and supply power to devices if and only if the handshake between charger and device is successful. Status will be reported to the central control unit.

* Central control unit and embedded software. According to the output given by the vision detection system or the feedback from the power supply system, the central control unit should move the chargers with proper scheduling algorithm to pair chargers with devices and keep wires of coil separated and neat.

# Criterion for Success

* The vision detection system can localize chargeable device at an accuracy of over 80% and response within 2s.

* The power system can supply powers when a chargeable device is present, and not supply power when the misdetection happens. Correct feedback can be sent to the central control system.

* The mechanical system moves correctly according to the commands given by the central control system.

* The central control system can send correct commands to the mechanical system given the position information from the vision system and the feedback from the power supply system. It should be able to keep wires of charging coil separated.

# Evaluations on Alternative Solutions

The technology of wireless charging emerged some time ago, but its inclusion in commercial devices doesn’t take off until recent years. Intuitively, wireless charging doesn’t bring much additional convenience compared to the wired charging, but its adoption by major manufacturers has proven its value. Similarly, in certain settings such as the cafeteria, charging without alignment may significantly increase user experience, comparing to having only a few fixed charging locations.

An alternative solution to enable table-scale wireless charging is to deploy multiple coils covering the whole table. But it doesn’t solve the alignment problem unless the coils are heavily overlapped, which has been proven to be difficult by already canceled Apple AirPower.