A matrix robot for block stacking

Abstract

This research studies how to control a robot to stack blocks according to the block structure shown in a given image. In this project, a LabVIEW program is designed and run on a Lego Mindstorms NXT, which in turn controls a robot built with components of Matrix Robotics. There are two operation modes for the block stacking robot. In the first mode, a user uses an Android smartphone to control the robot with Bluetooth to move around, pick up blocks, and stack them. In the second mode, the robot identifies the block structure in a given image with OpenCV and picks up the needed blocks to stack them to build the block structure. The robot was tested with two images of simple block structures in the second mode. The success rates ranged from 7 to 80%. Future work should further identify the weaknesses of the robot and improve its performance.