Handheld device remote access of robotic system via WiFi

Abstract

Smartphone technology has improved and matured significantly throughout the years. The fierce competition between telecommunication manufacturers had accelerated in the research and development of such mobile devices. This resulted in the driving down of the cost of smartphones. As a result, smartphones have become much more affordable today as compared to a few years back. These sophisticated devices that have a powerful processor and a number of wireless communication interfaces such as WiFi, Bluetooth, Near Field Communication, etc. The application of this project would be to use the WiFi interface on these handheld devices to connect and access a remote device such as a robot. A real time video would then be stream from the robot’s camera back to the hand held device and at the same time the operator would be able to control the robot’s movement from it. The video stream and robot’s controls will be accessible via a web page instead of developing an actual mobile app. This way, it can be quickly deployed and used. The WiFi latency of the robot and its CPU usage which would have an impact in the robot responsiveness and user experience will be examined.