Top 10 Projects in Automation (Videos Included)

Summary:

Automation is being used in a number of areas such as manufacturing, transport, utilities, defense, facilities, operations and lately, information technology also. And the best way to get skilled in automation technology is by building projects.

Note:

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1. IoT (Career Building Course)

2. Home Automation using IoT

3. Smart Irrigation System

4. Smart Building using IoT

5. Smart Energy Meter using GSM

6. Solar & Smart Energy Systems

7. Automatic Solar Tracker

8. GPS & GSM based Tracker

9. Automated Street Lighting

10. Access Control with RFID

11. Automated Railway Crossing

12. Smart Traffic Lighting System

13. Home Automation System using IoT & Raspberry Pi

14. Automation using PLC

Latest Automation projects for engineering students

In layman terms, we can define automation as “the technique of making an apparatus, a process, or a system operate automatically.” We can also refer to automation as the creation and application of technology to monitor and control the production and delivery of products/ services.

It performs tasks that were previously performed by humans. Automation is being used in a number of areas such as manufacturing, transport, utilities, defense, facilities, operations and lately, information technology also.

Automation can be performed in many ways in various industries. For example, in the information technology domain, a software script can test a product and produce a report. There are also various software tools available in the market which can generate code for an application. With this, the users only need to configure the tool and define the process. In other industries, automation greatly helps in improving productivity, saving time and cutting costs.

Automation is evolving quickly and business intelligence in applications is a new form of high-quality automation. In the technology domain, the impact of automation is increasing rapidly, both in the software/hardware and machine layer. However, despite advances in automation, some manual intervention is always advised, even if the tool can perform most of the tasks.

Citing the importance of automation in making industry 4.0, in this article, we will explore about the various ways of implementing automation, applications of it in industries and also we will see about how to make your very own automation project.

First, let’s look at some of the innovative projects that you can build with automation technology,

Best Automation projects for engineering students

1. Home automation system using IoT: In this project, you will learn to build an electronic device which can be used to control all the home appliances using Bluetooth technology. The project you develop can be used to switch ON/OFF the devices by giving commands using an Android App installed on a mobile phone. You will be able to store and analyze the data about the usage of home appliances through a cloud platform. 

Key Learnings:

1. IoT concepts and applications
2. Arduino Architecture and Programming
3. Bluetooth Communication

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2. Smart Building using IoT: The project you develop can sense the number of occupants in the meeting room with the help of PIR sensors and automatically switch the lights ON/ OFF based on occupancy. You will be able to analyze the usage of the meeting room, number of persons at various times of the day, the time for which lights are on and the power consumed. 

Key Learnings:

1. IoT concepts and applications
2. Arduino Architecture and programming
3. Calibration of PIR sensors
4. Integration of cloud platform

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3. Home automation system: In this project, you will develop a Home Automation System using Bluetooth technology. The system you develop allows you to remotely control home appliances with your Bluetooth-enabled smartphone and a special Android application. The system is fitted with a Bluetooth module, microcontroller, and relay switches to automatically control the appliances. 

Key Learnings:

1. Bluetooth communication
2. Home automation system framework
3. Working of relay driver circuits
4. 8051 architecture and its programming.

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4. Surveillance Robot: In this project, you would learn to build a surveillance robot with the help of Raspberry Pi as a microcontroller and it can transmit live video footage over the internet. You would also program the robot to get instructions from a user at a remote location. And this robot can further be automated by making it do functions like search & rescue, bomb detection & diffusion, etc.

Key Learnings:

1. Robot’s locomotion
2. Working of DC motors & motor driver circuit
3. Raspberry Pi Architecture and its Programming

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5. Computer Vision-Based Text Scanner: In this project, you would learn to develop a computer vision based text scanner that can scan any text from an image using the optical character recognition algorithm and display the text on your screen. Computer vision is one of the important technology that is used in automation projects, doing this project will help you greatly in understanding it.

Key Learnings:

1. Image processing algorithms
2. Image thresholding
3. Image perspective transformation
4. Optical Character Recognition

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6. Computer vision based mouse: In this project, you will learn to develop a computer vision based mouse to control the cursor using the object tracking algorithm. Using this project, you can carry out all the functionalities of a mouse by just showing corresponding colors in the webcam. This can be used in automation technologies for virtual inspection purposes.

Key Learnings:

1. Image processing algorithms
2. Image thresholding
3. Canny edge detection
4. Object tracking

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7. Computer vision based smart selfie: In this project, you will learn to develop a computer vision based smart selfie application that can take snaps automatically when you smile using facial feature recognition algorithm and store it on your device. The facial feature algorithm that is used here, can be modified to make various functionalities for an automation service.

Key Learnings:

1. Image processing algorithms
2. Face recognition
3. Facial Feature recognition
4. Dlib C++ library

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8. Automatic Railway Gate Controller: This project automatically controls the operation of railway gates by detecting the arrival and departure of trains at the gate. Detectors are placed at a faraway distance on a railway track to detect the arrival and departure of a train. Detectors are connected to a microcontroller, which activates the motor to perform the mechanical action of opening and closing the railway gate. This project is programmed in such a way that it is advantageous in calculating the velocity of the train. If the speed of the train exceeds its limit, then the passengers are alerted by activating a buzzer as an indication that the train is moving at over speed.

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9. Automatic parking slot indicator: This project is intended to save the ground space required for parking. By using this system, a huge number of cars can be parked according to the requirement, on floors that are one above the other. In this car parking system, there is an IR transmitter and receiver for the parking slot. IR receivers are connected to the microcontroller. Whenever a car is parked in the parking slot, the IR rays are obstructed, and the microcontroller comes to know which slot is empty and which slot is occupied, and then displays the result on the LCD. Furthermore, Light emitting diodes are used as an indication for showing the empty slots. LEDs are placed at the entrance of the parking slot to minimize human interference for monitoring car parking.

10. PCB manufacturing: In this project, you will learn and understand the process of making Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) from scratch! You’ll make a PCB prototype to function as a clap circuit - the system detects clap sound to power an LED bulb. PCB technology is used in almost all the circuit manufacturing and knowledge on this domain helps you greatly in making your own automation devices.

Key Learnings:

1. Circuit design using software tools
2. PCB fabrication as per design input
3. Testing PCB after loading components

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So what are various types of automation that are being implemented on an industrial level?

1. Fixed automation:
   It is a system in which the sequence of processing (or assembly) operations is fixed by the equipment configuration. The operations in the sequence are usually simple. It is the integration and coordination of many such operations into one piece of equipment that makes the system work with minimum human intervention.
2. Programmable automation:
   In this the production equipment is designed with the capability to change the sequence of operations to accommodate different product configurations. The operation sequence is controlled by a program, which is a set of instructions coded so that the system can read and interpret them. New programs can be prepared and entered into the equipment to produce new products.

3. Flexible automation:
   It is an extension of programmable automation. A flexible automated system is one that is capable of producing a variety of products (or parts) with virtually no time lost for changeovers from one product to the next. There is no production time lost while reprogramming the system and altering the physical setup (tooling, fixtures, and machine setting). Consequently, the system can produce various combinations and schedules for the manufacturing of various products.

Need for automation

1. To increase the productivity
2. Reduce the production cost
3. To improve product quality
4. To increase the flexibility
5. Operator friendly and improves the safety

What is Industry 4.0?

Industry 4.0 refers to a new phase in the Industrial Revolution that focuses heavily on interconnectivity, automation, machine learning and real-time data. Industry 4.0 is also sometimes referred to as IIOT (Industrial Internet of Things) or smart manufacturing. It marries physical production and operations with smart digital technology, machine learning and big data to create a more holistic and better-connected ecosystem for companies that focus on manufacturing and supply chain management. While every company and organization operating today is different, they all face a common challenge - the need for connectedness and access to real-time insights across process, partners, products, and people.

Advantages of Industry 4.0

• Increased competitiveness: Outsourcing to low-wage regions of the world was previously an imperative for manufacturers wanting to remain competitive. However, investments in technology are now enabling wealthier countries to compete once again. As a result, Mr. Ramaswami, CTO of 42Q said, manufacturers can now choose locations based on "technical capabilities and proximity to consumer demand, rather than decisions driven primarily by wages."
• Increased productivity: Automation, analytics, and machine-learning algorithms have taken much of the step-by-step work out of the hands of human operators. That means quicker, more efficient production around the clock, with human operators primarily monitoring and maintaining systems.
• Increased revenue and profitability: Industry 4.0 not only creates a more efficient and higher quality production process, but also it enables things like predictive and preventive maintenance and upgrades, which results in lower downtime and less capital expenditure over time.
• Manufacturing process optimization: With more connectivity, shared data and better analytics, closer collaboration along the entire supply chain becomes possible, which could lead to increased efficiency, optimization, and innovation in the long run across the manufacturing industry.

Technologies used in Automation

This technology works like the eye of the automotive production process using imaging processes including conventional imaging, hyperspectral imaging, infrared imaging, line scan imaging, 3D imaging of surfaces, and X-ray imaging.

The need for safer, more reliable and robust automobiles to justify price points is pushing automakers to adopt machine inspection. And Machine Vision (MV) helps them fulfill this need by providing an automated internal machine inspection method.

Explore various machine vision projects

A Co-bot is a robot intended to physically interact with humans in a shared workspace. This is in contrast with other robots, designed to operate autonomously or with limited guidance.

Artificial Intelligence system is defined as, “any system that perceives its environment and takes actions that maximize its chance of success at some goal.” And this is true for the on-research driverless or autonomous or self-driving cars that are using various levels of artificial intelligence. Circling back to Elon Musk, the dreadnought’s Tesla has developed its own driverless car hardware called Autopilot that are currently being used on all Tesla models. And ironically, Musk, as per reports, wants Level 5 automation in all Tesla models.

Cognitive Computing (CC) is a technology platform that is based on artificial intelligence and signal processing. These platforms encompass and use machine learning, reasoning, human language processing, speech and object, human-computer interaction, dialog and narrative generation, among others.

Hope you got some good idea about automation projects from this article.

Suppose, if you want to build great automation based projects but don’t have the necessary technical knowledge, don’t worry!

We at Skyfi Labs have developed an innovative learning methodology through which you can learn the latest technologies by building projects hands-on right from your home. With the course content available online 24x7 and 1-1 technical assistance provided, developing great expertise on the latest technologies like automation will never be tough for you.

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Top 10 Projects in Automation (Videos Included)