Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
13 Autonomous Lawn Patrol Robot for Stray Cat Deterrence
 Chentao Fang
Jiawei Kong
Ronglong Liu
Yanchen Liu
 proposal1.pdf
 Yu Lin
# Problem

In many residential neighborhoods, especially in suburban areas in the United States, houses are often surrounded by open lawn spaces. Stray or feral cats may frequently enter these private areas, which can lead to hygiene concerns, property maintenance issues, and disturbance to residents.

Existing solutions for preventing animals from entering private yards mainly rely on manual intervention, physical barriers, or simple deterrent devices. These approaches are often inconvenient, inconsistent, or ineffective over long-term use. Therefore, there is a need for a more automated and intelligent system that can monitor outdoor spaces and safely deter unwanted animals.

With the advancement of mobile robotics and vision-based sensing technologies, an autonomous patrol robot provides a promising approach to continuously monitor the environment and respond to detected targets.

# Solution Overview

The proposed solution is an autonomous mobile robot designed to patrol residential lawn areas and deter stray cats. The robot will move within a predefined region using a four-wheel differential-drive chassis. A camera mounted on a servo-driven gimbal will be used to detect and track cat targets through a vision-based recognition system.

When a target is detected and confirmed within an appropriate range and direction, a spray-based deterrence mechanism will be activated to safely drive the animal away. The robot’s behavior will be coordinated using a finite state machine that manages transitions between patrol, target tracking, and deterrence modes.

Although the intended application scenario is outdoor lawn monitoring, prototype testing and functional validation will be conducted in controlled indoor environments such as tabletop setups due to practical constraints.

# Solution Components

## Subsystem I: Mobile Platform
- Hardware I.a: Four-wheel differential-drive chassis
- Hardware I.b: DC drive motors and wheel assemblies
- Hardware I.c: Motor driver module
- Software I.d: Basic motion control algorithm

## Subsystem II: Vision and Tracking System
- Hardware II.a: Camera module
- Hardware II.b: Servo-driven camera gimbal
- Software II.c: Cat detection algorithm
- Software II.d: Target tracking and alignment logic

## Subsystem III: Deterrence Mechanism
- Hardware III.a: Spray nozzle or water outlet
- Hardware III.b: Water pump module
- Hardware III.c: Turret or nozzle positioning servo
- Software III.d: Deterrence activation control

## Subsystem IV: Control System
- Hardware IV.a: Microcontroller unit (e.g., Arduino)
- Software IV.b: Finite state machine for behavior coordination
- Software IV.c: Motor and servo control routines

## Subsystem V: Power and Electronics
- Hardware V.a: Rechargeable battery pack
- Hardware V.b: Voltage regulation modules
- Hardware V.c: Electrical wiring platform (breadboard, perfboard, or PCB)

# Criterion for Success

- The robot can patrol a predefined test area autonomously or semi-autonomously.
- The vision system can detect a cat-like target under typical indoor lighting conditions.
- The camera gimbal can maintain stable tracking of the target.
- The deterrence mechanism activates only when the target is within a defined range and direction.
- The control system correctly switches between patrol, tracking, and deterrence modes.
- The differential-drive chassis can perform forward motion and turning maneuvers reliably.
- The integrated system demonstrates repeatable performance during multiple indoor validation tests.

High Noon Sheriff Robot

Yilue Pan, Shuting Shao, Yuan Xu, Youcheng Zhang

Featured Project

# MEMBERS:

- Yuan Xu [yuanxu4]

- Shuting Shao [shao27]

- Youcheng Zhang [yz64]

- Yilue Pan [Yilvep2]

# TITLE:

HIGH NOON SHERIFF ROBOT

PROBLEM:

Nowadays with the increasing number of armed attacks and shooting incidents. The update for public places needs to be put on the agenda. Obviously, we could not let police and security to do all the jobs since humans might neglect some small action of threat behind hundreds of people and could not respond quickly to the threat. A second of hesitation might cost an innocent life. Our team aims on making some changes to this situation since nothing is higher than saving lifes not only victims but also gunners. We find some ideas in the Old western movies when two cowboys are going to a high noon duel, the sheriff will pull out the revolver quicker than the other and try to warn him before everything is too late. If we can develop a robot that can detect potential threats and pull out weapons first in order to warn the criminal to abandon the crime or use non-lethal weapons to take him down if he continues to pull out his gun.

# SOLUTION OVERVIEW:

In order to achieve effective protection in a legal way, we have developed the idea of a security robot. The robot can quickly detect dangerous people and fire a gun equipped with non-lethal ammunition to stop dangerous events.

The robot should satisfy the following behavioral logic:

- When the dangerous person is acting normally and there is no indication of impending danger, the robot should remain in standby mode with its robot arm away from the gun.

- When the dangerous person is in a position ready to draw his gun or other indication of dangerous behavior, the robot is also in a drawn position and its arm is already clutching the gun.

- When the dangerous person touches his gun, The robot should immediately draw the gun, move the hammer and finish aiming and firing to control the dangerous person. This type of robot would need to include three subsystems: Detection system, Electrical Control system, and Mechanical system.

# SOLUTION COMPONENTS:

## [SUBSYSTEM #1: DETECTION SUBSYSTEM]

This subsystem consists of a camera and PC. We are going to use YOLO v5 to detect object, determine the position of human and the gun. Use DeepSORT to track the object, let the camera follow the opponent. Use SlowFast to detect opponent’s behavior.

## [SUBSYSTEM #2: ELECTRICAL CONTROL SYSTEM]

This subsystem consists of a STM32, two high speed motors, two gimbal motors, one motor for revolver action and position sensor. The STM32 serves as the controller for the motors. The high speed motor will be used to move the mechanical grab to grab the revolver and pull it out as fast as possible so that it will use the position sensor as the end stop point instead of PID control. The gimbal motors serve as Yaw and Pitch motion for the revolver to control the accuracy of the revolver so that it needs encoders to give the angle feedback.

## [SUBSYSTEM #3: MECHANICAL SYSTEM]

This subsystem consists of a three-degree-of-freedom robot arm and a clamping mechanism fixed to the end of the arm. The clamping mechanism is used to achieve the gripping of the gun, the moving of the hammer and the pulling of the trigger. The mechanical arm is used to lift and aim the gun.

# CRITERION FOR SUCCESS

- Move Fast. The robot must draw its gun and aim faster than the opponent；

- Warning First. If opponent’s hand moves close to the gun on his waist, the robot should draw the gun and aim it at the opponent without firing. If the opponent gives up drawing a gun and surrender, the robot should put its gun back in place. Otherwise, the robot will shoot at the opponent.

- Accurate shooting. Under the premise that the opponent may move, the robot must accurately shoot the opponent's torso.

# DISTRIBUTION OF WORK

- EE Student Shuting Shao: Responsible for object detection and object tracking.

- EE Student Yuan Xu: Responsible for behavior detection and video processing.

- EE Student Youcheng Zhang: Responsible for electrical control system.

- ME Student Yilue Pan: Responsible for the Mechanical system.