Robotic Food Service Cart

Project

To alleviate worker shortages in the food service industry, this project was conceived to help automate a part of the process.

This project is a mobile robot designed to assist food transportation in restaurants. There were three objectives:

The intention of the project was not to be a replacement of human waitstaff, but a tool to help

• Create a mobile robot that would not collide with people or objects.
• Collect data from a camera and other sensors to guide robot control.
• Utilize low-cost and open-source materials to keep cost of project low.

System

Methods

• A CIM motor from AndyMark was selected as the main driving motor.
• It is geared down with a planetary gearbox to provide enough power to the wheels.

• A Raspberry Pi 4 serves as the processing unit.
• A wide variety of components designed to work with the Raspberry Pi make it desirable.
• Motor signals are sent from here to the motor drivers.

• The software backbone is created through the Robot Operating System (ROS).
• ROS allows for different programs and scripts to easily communicate using its protocols, through an open-source operating system.

Conclusion

• Mobile Robots need hardware and software closely integrated together to work well.
• Many tools are openly available to make highly complex mobile robots and it takes work to organize them.
• Systematic approaches adding one new element at a time offer more results than broad project development.
• This project could help futureproof restaurants by making them more robust and resilient in cases of pandemic such as COVID-19.