Arduino based human-following IV stand

The most important factor for an autonomous robot is to have a continuous interaction between the person and the robot itself. Many researches have been done in developing such robots, but none of them were related to improving the IV-Stand making sure it keeps its requirements that meets the hospital standards, which is our main purpose in this research. Our project is about a robot that autonomously follows patients assisting them providing the necessary help needed. The interaction between the robot and the patient should bring ease to him during any of the normal daily life activities. Our robot is designed to follow IR signals, a small leg-band attached to the patient transmits this signal. The main hindrance in this kind of work is that it might start operating when it detects any infrared signal. The infrared has to be unique for the robot to recognize it and start operating. The system works on a mechanism that requires every patient to have his own ID, this allows the robot to follow each patient by itself. This is all possible by using a Wii-camera which detects the IR signal providing its position relative to (x, y, z) system, and an IR reader reads the code being sent. This kind of work requires high attention to the smallest details, due to any possible threat to the patient's life. Keeping in mind, there should be a protective system that collects information about its surroundings while operating; making it capable of avoiding any obstacle in its range. This is done by using an ultrasonic sensor which provides information about the robot surroundings. All the processing is done on two Arduino microcontrollers communicating seamlessly.