Physical Activity Based Vehicle Control Using ESP32

Abstract

This paper introduces an optimized and reliable project named Move-Buddy, a device that encourages physical movement in children. This is a way of engaging children in a game which causes them to move their body in different positions (e.g., wave their arms and move their legs) for the device to move forward, backward, left, and right according to the action performed by the child. The device uses multiple sensors placed on a pair of gloves/sleeves and knee-braces, which detect the movement of the hands and legs. According to the detected movement the robot-car starts moving. Various parameters are detected such as change in position of limbs and speed of the movement of the limbs, which causes different types of movement of the car such as forward, backward, left, and right. The velocity of the robotic vehicle is influenced by the speed at which its limbs move. This is done by speed control of the used DC motors. The car is connected to the sensors on the limbs over Bluetooth. This describes the mechanism by which sensors transmit signals to the microcontroller within the car. Using these readings, the microcontroller makes the necessary calculations and moves the motors. When the car needs to move left, the speed of the right motor increases and the speed of the left motor decreases. Similarly, when the car needs to move right, the speed of the left motor increases and the speed of the right motor decreases. Depending on the input received, the car can move backwards as well. Once the limbs become stationary in the calibrated position, the car stops moving.