Hello! My name is Foppe and I am new to Arduino. I would like to use a Arduino Uno to make the following idea.
I want to track a floor mop inside buildings, to provide prove that the entire surface has been cleaned (floor, walls and ceiling) or at least to know how many square meters the mop has been used.
The mop needs to be replaced after 15 square meters. I have done research all day and found that a combination of an accelerometer and magnetometer together with a gyro might be the solution. GPS is probably not really reliable inside large buildings. I found that the Grove MPU-9250 and Adafruit BNO055 Absolute Orientation might be a solution.
Is it possible to track where the mop has been or the pattern it has made and visualize that in 3D?
An interesting challenge! Accelerometer+gyro+magnetometer = inertial measurement unit (IMU). Alas the cheap ones available today probably don't have the accuracy you need, even with various correction algorithms. Indoor positioning is really an unsolved problem. Practical solutions use ultra-wideband beacons to track things like tools in factories. The kind of solution that Roomba uses might work, but I think that involves learning a map of the area which is quite time consuming.
If you were only interested in area covered, maybe you could fit optical "mouse" sensors on each end of the mop to measure distance moved x width = area?
Thank you for your prompt reply. I have read about the IMU and Kalman and it seems very difficult. I am glad that you mention indoor positioning is an unsolved problem. I didn't expect that and thought I just couldn't find the solution all day long. Maybe optical mouse sensors might solve the problem. But it will be hard to place them. The mop is under it and when placed at the sides, it might be fragile. Could a combination between IMU and several ultrasonic distance sensors be a solution, does something like that already excist? Or is there a reason no one ever tried that?
Thanks, the Pozyx system is very interesting if the idea would make it to the next stage. Perhaps the second DIY option is better at first. I was already reading some, will check more in the evening. Thanks again both @jhaine and @jremington for your help, I was a bit stuck but now there is progress again.
