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Hot Spot Identification
Hot Spot Identification
Abstract— Robotic systems have a tremendous influence on advanced to a point where humans cannot live without it. One of
real-world applications as well as the actions and decisions of the most important factors involved in this advancement of
humans. It is one of the key driving forces towards advancements technology is robotic systems design. For decades, humans have
in the field of technology. With an everlasting desire to master this, been able to solve problems and achieve milestones using
humans have made one major compromise: unmonitored robotic technologies. For example, sending humans to the moon
depletion of Earth’s invaluable resources and uncontrolled and setting up space stations, decreasing cost and time of
accumulation of waste. Furthermore, this so-called progress manufacturing process using automated robots, and connecting
towards a technologically advanced world has paved the way to people all over the world through the internet to maximize
create a complex environment that poses several risks to human
productivity and communication.
health. One such risk is caused due to the stagnation of
contaminated water which serves as a breeding ground for insects Although we have made our mark as the most advanced
such as mosquitoes and houseflies and causes a plethora of species on the Earth, we have proved to be the most ignorant
diseases. As a result, mosquito-borne diseases are on the rise in when it comes to caring for our environment. On our path to
countries such as India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Cambodia, and master technology, we have made some major compromises:
Brazil. These diseases are detrimental to the health of the unmonitored depletion of Earth’s invaluable resources and
country’s population. Dengue, a mosquito-borne disease, is the uncontrolled accumulation of waste. These compromises have
fastest spreading and most critical. Therefore, the challenge at
created a ripple effect leading to major problems all over the
hand is to develop a robotic system which is efficient in locating
world such as global warming and climate change, the spread of
“dengue hot-spots” while being complementary to the
environment, i.e. fewer emissions, zero greenhouse gases. Current
diseases and viruses, and a decrease in resources necessary to
methods of dealing with this challenge require a lot of resources sustain life on Earth. Our desire to invent the “next big thing”
and do not yield expected results. Our design methodology, has made us forget that we live in a world with limited resources.
referred to as EMBED-X, offers a systematic approach that is This lack of concern for the sustenance of the natural world has
backed up by protocols which support intelligent and pro-active paved the way for creating a complex environment which poses
monitoring of the environment. The robotic system is to be semi- several risks to human health.
autonomous and remotely connected to a control station for
In this complex environment, the spread of unwanted
constant data analysis. The aim is to identify objects such as
diseases and viruses is strikingly high due to its potential to
coconut shells, rubber tires, and plastic containers that have the
potential for retaining stagnant water. To identify these objects, sustain the lives of disease-causing organisms. For example,
image analysis algorithms are applied on the images captured by stagnation of contaminated water serves as a potential breeding
the autonomous robot during the surveillance of a given area. Our ground for insects such as mosquitoes and houseflies which
image analysis algorithm has an accuracy of 66.7% and is cause a plethora of diseases. These breeding grounds, usually
continually being improved using the EMBED-X methodology. located in inaccessible regions, accumulate and stagnate water
There are limitations to this solution and methodology. However, over a period of time. In countries such as India, Cambodia,
this project would serve as a stepping stone towards better design Thailand, Brazil and Sri Lanka, the supporting nature of the
of robotic systems applied specifically to environmental tropical weather has led to the increase in a number of breeding
monitoring and improving assessment capabilities through grounds for these insects. As a result of this, mosquito-borne
advanced image processing methods. diseases are on a rise in these countries and cause detrimental
health complications for the affected victims. One of the most
Keywords—EMBED-X; Systematic Approach; Image Analysis widespread mosquito-borne disease that is ranked “critical” by
Algorithms; Design Methodology; Mosquito-borne diseases; the World Health Organization (WHO) is Dengue [1]. In the
year of 2017, India faced 157,220 cases and 250 deaths caused
I. INTRODUCTION
due to the dengue virus – the highest ever recorded number of
Technology, as we know it, is on an exponential rise and cases and deaths over the past eight years [2]. For the present
serves as the fundamental basis for many real-world applications paper, the geography is based in Tamil Nadu, India.
such as industrial and commercial robotics, smart home
appliances, construction equipment and machinery, and Since the spread of dengue has proven to be an increasing
vehicular transport systems. This is only the tip of the iceberg concern in tropical as well as sub-tropical countries, the
that covers the many innovations of technology. Technology has challenge at hand is to develop and implement a robotic system
Fig. 8. An image taken by the drone when surveying the selected area
Fig. 7. Coconut shell is identified by the image analysis algorithm
IV. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS The next stage was a very important since it decided the priority
The execution phase of the robotic system evaluated both the and probability level of the potential dengue hot-spot. For
hardware and the software to test for accuracy and performance. example, in fig.8, it is clear that there is presence of stagnant
For example, the algorithm for image analysis was repeatedly water and environmental waste. Hence, the location can be
tested and fine-tuned to maximize the accuracy of recognizing marked as a potential dengue hot-spot. Stage four required the
an object. This phase of the development process was critical as analysis of weather records and forecasts to check for rainfall. If
it allowed for the elimination of bugs and reduced the chance of the selected area had received rainfall in the previous three days,
possible errors in the final model. To conduct the experiment, an then it confirms a high probability of finding stagnant water. If
area within the city was selected based on the number of dengue not, then the robot has identified areas where water may stagnate
cases. in future. The last stage, stage 5, involved the creation of a
virtual map containing location pins of all confirmed and
The execution process was systematically carried out in five potential dengue hot-spots. Each location pin was accompanied
stages. Stage one involved the aerial photography of the selected by a data set that contained the priority and probability levels,
area using the custom-built drone. The selected area was marked weather forecasts and records, aerial and ground images, and
on a map in the mission planner by bounding it within a type and number of objects found.
rectangle. The drone covered the area within the rectangle by
following a path like that followed by a square wave. After
completing its assessment, the drone returned to the starting
position and landed automatically. The images from the camera TABLE I. TRIAL RUNS FOR OBJECT RECOGNITION
were transferred to the control station manually via an SD card
Tyre Plastic Container Coconut Shell
for image analysis. Fig. 8 shows one of the images captured by
the drone during the assessment process. Each image was Trial 1 Identified Not Identified Identified
analysed for the target objects and since the images were Trial 2 Identified Not Identified Identified
geotagged, the GPS coordinates of the objects could be extracted Trial 3 Not Identified Identified Identified
from the image. A mission planner was setup for the semi- Trial 4 Not Identified Identified Not Identified
autonomous rover and it was directed to the coordinates of the Trial 5 Identified Identified Identified
identified object. To perform this, the rover made use of the IR Trial 6 Identified Not Identified Identified
line following sensors to detect line paths drawn on the side of Trial 7 Not Identified Identified Not Identified
roads and move closer to the desired location. Along with this Trial 8 Identified Identified Identified
sensor, the ultrasonic sensor aided in detecting obstacles along
Trial 9 Not Identified Identified Identified
the line path. The robot reached a point till which the line path
was available and switched to a free-range mode a where it used Trial 10 Identified Identified Not Identified
only the ultrasonic sensor to reach the destination. Stage two
commenced when the rover reached the assigned location and Table I represents the results of our image analysis algorithm
captured images of the artificial surroundings for a closer view. on identifying three different objects. Our algorithm achieved an
The rover was directed back to the control station where the accuracy of 66.7% in finding the target objects. Table II
represents the object identification results which helped in A systematic approach helps in keeping the development
determining the accuracy of the algorithm. process clear, simple, and modular. The robotic system is semi-
autonomous and connected to a control station for constant data
TABLE II. OBJECT IDENTIFICATION RESULTS monitoring and analysis. Target objects such as coconut shells,
Object Successful Trials Failed Trials disposed of plastic containers, and rubber tyres are considered
Rubber Tyre 6 4 because they support the data corresponding to the dengue
Plastic Container 7 3 situation currently being faced in Chennai, India. A virtual map
of all identified and potential dengue hot-spots is created and
Coconut Shell 7 3
updated frequently. This massive pool of data would be used in
Total 20 10
clearing these hot-spots in the future. Although the proposed
solution has limitations, the goal of this paper is to serve as
There are limitations to the approach proposed here. For stepping stone towards a better design of robotic systems aimed
example, the flight time of the drone is restricted to 25 minutes at enhanced environmental monitoring capabilities by
which does not allow for region-wide analysis. Image analysis employing advanced image processing solutions.
is restricted to 2D objects with the current ROS package. The
lack of depth as a factor implies that 2D images would also be ACKNOWLEDGMENT
recognized as an object which is not desirable. Another issue
would arise when the line path for the rover is blocked or The first author would like to thank his teachers at Vidya Mandir
removed. This would halt the rover’s mission for an indefinite Sr. Sec. School, Chennai, India for their advice and support.
period of time leading to the rover getting lost. In addition to the
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