Autonomous Delivery Robot with GPS Navigation & IoT Control.

# Autonomous Delivery Robot (DeliBot) ## What I Built An end-to-end autonomous delivery robot system capable of GPS waypoint navigation, real-time remote control, and package tracking. The robot uses Ackermann steering geometry, a brushless motor, compass heading, and live MQTT communication to navigate to a destination autonomously. A Flask web app with WebSockets serves as the control dashboard — complete with user auth, delivery dispatch, email notifications, and a live tracking link for recipients. ## The Problem It Solves Large environments like university campuses, hospitals, and warehouses waste time and money on manual delivery. This robot provides a **low-cost, intelligent alternative** with autonomous navigation and remote monitoring. ## System Architecture The robot runs a continuous **Sense → Process → Decide → Move** loop: - **Sense** — GPS locks position; HMC5883L reads heading; ultrasonic detects obstacles - **Process** — ESP8266 calculates bearing error using Haversine formula - **Decide** — Proportional steering control adjusts servo angle - **Move** — Brushless ESC drives forward at controlled speed ## Hardware Stack - `ESP8266` — WiFi microcontroller (brain of the robot) - `NEO-6M GPS` — Real-world coordinate tracking - `HMC5883L Compass` — Heading estimation (calibrated for Lagos, Nigeria) - `Brushless Motor + ESC` — High-efficiency propulsion - `Servo Motor` — Ackermann steering angle control - `ESP32-CAM` — Live video streaming ## Navigation Algorithm ```cpp float bearingError = targetBearing - compassHeading; bearingError = normalizeAngle(bearingError); // -180 to +180 float steeringAngle = bearingError * (TURN_GAIN / 100.0); steeringAngle = constrain(steeringAngle, -45, 45); setSteeringAngle(steeringAngle); ``` The robot slows down for sharp turns (>30°) and stops within 5 meters of the waypoint. ## Software & Communication - **MQTT (HiveMQ broker)** — Lightweight real-time command/status channel - **Flask + SocketIO** — Backend with live WebSocket state push to dashboard - **SQLite** — Delivery records with tracking IDs - **Email Notifications** — Auto-sent to recipient with a unique tracking link ## Key Features - Autonomous GPS waypoint navigation - Manual control fallback (forward / backward / left / right / stop) - Real-time ETA calculation (Haversine distance ÷ 1.5 m/s) - Secure login/register with hashed passwords - Per-delivery tracking links with live robot dashboard - Delivery history admin panel ## Results A fully functional delivery robot that navigates autonomously to GPS coordinates, streams live video, and notifies recipients via email — built entirely with low-cost, accessible hardware.