Design and Implementation of a Load Transferring Machine for Multi-Storey Buildings

Nowadays, there is a growing trend towards the construction of multi-storey buildings as opposed to single floor ones in Mauritius. Implementing lifts or escalators in every building to provide vertical circulation and to carry the occupants' items from floor to floor is not economically feasible and is against the concept of sustainable development. Consequently, employing staircases is the most practical alternative because it is less expensive and easier to integrate. But the issue that arises is that staircase accidents occur more often than one would expect, and their frequency of occurrence is increasing. Carrying loads on staircases increases the risk of staircase accidents especially when carried out by the elderlies. This project focuses on the design and implementation of an autonomous load transferring machine for residential multi-storey buildings which will be beneficial for a wide range of individuals, including elders and people with limited mobility. The proposed design comprises of an autonomous tracked robot with a pair of main tracks and auxiliary tracks equipped with a self-balancing platform to handle the load. The main tracks provide the driving force for the robot to move around while the auxiliary tracks enable the robot to climb and descend staircases. The robot navigates by following its user using computer vision (CV) and machine learning (ML). Moreover, a speech recognition system was conceptualised to improve the user interface of the robot, especially for the elderlies. A scaled-down prototype of the design was implemented to evaluate the design's stair climbing algorithm, navigation capabilities and self-balancing algorithm of its platform. The results obtained were satisfactory and the system can be upgraded to include advanced new features.