Description
Abstract
Rodents are a huge problem in our daily lives and in our farms and getting relieve from them seems almost inevitable. They cause large scale damage to our crops, commodities and other useful things. Rodent repellents already exist, but due to their toxicity or high price, they aren’t feasible to use. In this paper, we have been able to design a micro controller based rodent repelling robot using PIR sensor, micro-controller module, and a mechanism – which provide the system the capacity of patrolling the area of application (such as farm) to be kept rodent-free and dispense repellent stimuli in a predetermined pattern.
This device can be beneficial to farmers, storage house, and general public to repel these harmful rodents.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COVER PAGE
TITLE PAGE
APPROVAL PAGE
DEDICATION
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
ABSTRACT
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT
- STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
- AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT
- SCOPE OF THE PROJECT
- SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PROJECT
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
- INTRODUCTION
- REVIEW OF THE STUDY
- REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES
- REVIEW OF DIFFERENT METHOD OF RODENT CONTROL
2.5 STIMULI USED IN REPELLENT
2.5 MOBILE ROBOTICS
CHAPTER THREE
- SYSTEM DESIGN
- CHASSIS DESIGN
- HARDWARE SELECTION
- SELECTION OF NAVIGATION STRATEGY
- SENSORS ELECTION AND PLACEMENT
- ENCODER SELECTION
- SELECTION OF STIMULI AND TEST PROTOCOL
CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 DESIGN ANALYSIS
4.1 SYSTEM CIRCUIT DIAGRAM
4.2 SYSTEM FINAL ASSEMBLY
4.3 RESULTS ANALYSIS
CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION, LIMITATION AND RECOMMENDATION
- CONCLUSION
- LIMITATION
- RECOMMENDATION AND FUTURE WORK
REFERENCES
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Rats and mice are among rodent commonly found in homes and on farmlands. Rodents constitute serious irritant nuisance that disturb humans and plants.
Rodents are among nature’s most prolific mammalian breeders. Worldwide, 3.5 million rats are born every day. Female rats breed up to a dozen times in a year and produce, on average, a half-dozen offspring. Some litters total 20 or more. (1) The rat population in the United States is estimated to be 1.25 billion rats, possibly more.
It is impossible to calculate the extent of the damage inflicted by rats. The scope of the damage however, is immense. They destroy standing crops and harvested grain causing huge food losses even before the crop leaves the farm. Structural damage is caused by burrowing and gnawing rats. Rats once put out the lights at Heath row airport by gnawing through double-insulated power cables.
Beyond such economic damage, however, rats pose health hazards. The animals harbor the lice and fleas that spawn serious diseases such as typhus, trichinosis, infectious jaundice and the deadly plague (1).
Owing to such high nuisance value, rodent control products have never been short of buyers. Traditional rodent control methods include poisoned baits, traps and rodenticides. However, traps eventually require the disposal of rat bodies and rodenticides run the risk of inadvertent secondary poisoning. Furthermore, these methods cannot be employed in places where them are presence of a rodent, and the thereby, the smallest chance of urine and fecal contamination, an not be tolerated (e.g food storage ware houses, restaurants, etc.)
Hence, the pest control industry is overrun with electronic devices that claim to clear off existing rodent infestations and ward off future ones. These devices are usually static and target the victim of a domestic rodent infestation. The devices are meant to plugged into electrical outlets in the inflicted homes, upon which, they emit the alleged repellent stimulus. However, there is overwhelming evidence documented through numerous studies (from Sprocket al. in 2019 to Shumake et al. in 2015) regarding the gross inefficacy of these devices. As a result, the scientific community advises that these devices“ be viewed with considerable skepticism by legislators, pest controllers, and consumer”(2).
Hence, it was proposed that the possibility of designing a rodent repellent device in the form of a mobile robot, that overcomes most of the disadvantages of static electronic devices, be explored.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Rodents and pests are a huge problem in our daily lives and in the industry and getting relieve from them seems almost inevitable. They cause large scale damage to our crops, commodities and other useful things. Using Traditional rodent control methods such as poisoned baits, traps and rodenticides can be hazardous to human being. In other to overcome these challenges this robot was build. This robot has the capacity of patrolling the area of application (such as farm) to be kept rodent-free and dispense repellent stimuli in a predetermined pattern.
1.3 AIM AND OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The aim of this study is to build a micro controller based rodent repelling robot on farms. The objectives of the study are:
- To build the system prototype using micro controller.
- To overcome disadvantages seen in traditional rodent control methods
- To increase agricultural production
- To replace the chemical method and use of bio pesticide method with ultrasonic rodent repelling system which is Eco-friendly
1.4 SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The scope of this study is to design a robotic rodents Repellent circuit using PIR sensor and 8051 micro-controller module. The micro controller is the heart of the device. The operation of the device based upon ultrasonic devices operate by detection obstacle when the robot patrols. The robot works by patrolling the area of application to be kept rodent-free and dispense repellent stimuli in a predetermined pattern. The work also covers the conceptual design, mechanical design, fabrication and assembly of the mobile platform. Furthermore, I was responsible for the selection of navigationstrategyandgenerationofalgorithmtoimplementthechosennavigationstrategy.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
To the society, this study will serve as a means of promoting agriculture in our society.
To the student involved, this study will serve as a means of having a deep understanding of ultrasonic sensors and micro controller interfacing.
The development of this robot is considered as useful and best design instead of pesticides and herbicides. This kind of design will better adapt to the environment of developing countries.
CHAPTER
CONCLUSION, LIMITATION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Conclusion
The proposed micro controller rodent repellent robot was successfully designed and built. The repellent stimuli were identified and an integrated repellent strategy was formulated. This include dultrasonicaudio stimuli and visual stimuli.
The navigational abilities of the robot were extensively tested. The robot was able to follow walls around acute and obtuse corners. It was also able to follow objects that were lined along the wall, like trash cans, tables, desks, bookshelves and even irregularly shaped objects like filled garbage bags. The robot showed good robustness in detecting and circumventing random obstacles in its path, and in detecting and following the edge of stair cases.
Hence, it can be concluded that the navigational performance of the robot meets the specifications out lined in the problem statement.
5.2 LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
The efficacy of repellent with live rodents could not be tested in a controlled laboratory setting. Hence, contacts and information regarding infrastructure, procedures and protocol was very hard to come by. Over time contacts were established through net working and research.
5.3 RECOMMENDATION
- Repellent efficacy testing can be carried out with live rodents. Results of the tests should be used to tune the repellent strategy with respect to parameters like strobe duty cycle, USV duty cycle, USV amplitude, etc.
- The use of chemical stimuli (irritants like capsaicin and semi-chemical mimicry agents like synthetic predator odors can be explored)
- A more sophisticated strategy navigation strategy that combines elements of SLAM with wall following can be explored.
- Similarly, the feasibility of a more active repellent strategy, where the robot will attempt to locate rodents rather than passively patrol the perimeter, can be explored. The possibility of using thermal imaging to isolate the heat signature of a rodent can be explored.
