ISSNIP Biosignals and Biorobotics Conference 2010

Theme: Biosignals and Robotics for Better and Safer Living

Vitoria, Brazil - 4-6 January 2010

Environmental odor perception: an evaluation of a

platform based on LabVIEW and the LEGO NXT
Alejandro R. García Ramírez #1, Andy Blanco Rodríguez *2, Armando O. López López *3, Douglas W. Bertol#4
Alejandro Durán Carrillo de Albornoz*5
#
Departamento de Engenharia de Computação, Universidade do Vale de Itajaí
Rodovia SC 407, Km 4, CEP 88120-000, São José, SC, Brazil
1
ramirez@sj.univali.br
4
dwbertol@gmail.com
*
Laboratorio de Investigaciones en Electrónica del Estado Sólido, Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales,
Universidad de La Habana
Zapata y G S/N, 10400, Vedado, La Habana, Cuba
2
andy@imre.oc.uh.cu
3
mandy@imre.oc.uh.cu
5
duran@imre.oc.uh.cu

Abstract— Environmental pollution, due to the man activity,
has generated an increasing interest in the development of
automated and intelligent systems for monitoring and analyzing
environmental variables. In this field, recent applications of
mobile robotics systems as well as electronic tongues and
electronic noses, based on an array of non-selective sensors and
artificial intelligence techniques (i.e. pattern recognition tools),
should be mentioned. There are known several practical
applications in demining tasks, exploring caves or tunnels, rescue
missions, drugs detection, toxic gas, explosive and human
detection and monitoring waters and air; as well as in
biotechnology, dairy, and food industries, among others. Also, it
is reported a great variety of mobile robotic hardware/software
platforms that has been studied by researchers nowadays. In this
work it is proposed an studied a mobile robotic architecture, for
odor detection, based on LabVIEW and the commercial LEGO
platform. So, it describes different concepts, the principal
methods and tools, as well as hardware features and software
algorithms commonly employed for the detection and
localization of odors which supports the proposed architecture.
I. INTRODUCTION
It is well known that the man, by means of his senses, and
usually helped by animals like dogs, performs the detection of
several chemical substances i.e. explosives, butane gas leaks,
fire smokes, etc. This is a complex task which, in some
applications, could involve certain risks also when the time of
detection constitutes a variable of interest i.e. localization of
people in catastrophic situations; when there is necessary long
periods of exposure (drug detection in airports) or when it is
impossible the man exposure as in source fire detection or
toxic gas leaks in tunnels. In this point, mobile robotics is
being considered an interesting tool for helping man, saving
time, improving human security and a better performance [1].
The development of robots is faster comparing to animals,
robots cost lower, they can work for a long period of time,
don´t suffer fatigue and they can move in risky or toxic areas.
The development of a mobile robotic system, which
performs the localization or detection of toxic substances in
the environment, is a complex problem because it includes the
navigation, localization and the robot hardware/software
control [2], but the design of a custom made electronic nose
(e-nose) [3], [4] as well as a data acquisition system [5], and
the processing [6], localization [7] and odor recognition
algorithms [8]. Research is very promissory in this field, being
the biology a new discipline to consider [9], [10] and it is
focused on improve the sensors response, to obtain a better
performance extracting the main features from the signals [11]
as well as developing new bio-inspired algorithms which also
improve the odor localization task [12]. This comprises the
use of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) tools [13], the
development of a robot architecture with its control algorithms
[14], [15] and also the simulation techniques [16]. Kowadlo
and Russell [17] review the state of the art in this topic.
There are reported different hardware/software platforms
for implementing mobile robots at universities and research
centers. These platforms can be divided into commercial or
custom made robotics systems. Custom made robots are
frequently microcontroller-based and the mechanical elements
are designed and assembled by the user [18]. Commercial
robots can be also divided in domestic i.e. AIBO and LEGO
RCX [19] or research robots like the Pioneer [20], Khepera
[21] or Koala [22] (www.k-team.com/). In general,
commercial robots are used to be closed platforms with
proprietary hardware/software resources. Recently there is a
trend to use the so called “development robotic platforms”
(hardware independent) and to migrate towards non-
propietary software like the Linux-based Player/Stage/Gazebo.
In this paper was proposed and validated some functional
features of a mobile robot architecture which is designed to
performs an odor localization task. The robot is based on the
LEGO NXT platform [23] and it also comprises two ethanol
sensors. The LEGO NXT offers some flexibility, but limited,
over its antecessor RCX and other closed platforms
concerning the mechanical project. It also allows the direct
connection of sensors from other manufacturers and it is also

209
 ISSNIP Biosignals and Biorobotics Conference 2010
Theme: Biosignals and Robotics for Better and Safer Living
Vitoria, Brazil - 4-6 January 2010
versatile during programming, which is very useful during the
experimental research. Different operating systems like Linux
or Windows; programming languages i.e. Java, C, G,
assembler and application programs (LabVIEW, Robolab,
Matlab) can be used during programming and simulation
stages. In 2006 the LEGO group released as open source the
firmware of the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® microprocessor as
well as the Software, Hardware and Bluetooth Developer Kits.
This proposal makes use of the proper NXT
hardware/software (ARM7/LabVIEW) resources during the
sensor conditioning, signal acquisition and processing stages
without the need of external circuits or processing boards.
This paper comprises six different sections. Section 1
addressed the odor source localization problem. Section 2
includes a description of the hardware and software resources
which supports the proposed architecture for odor detection.
The section 3 presents the robot design and the simple Virtual
Instrument developed using LabVIEW. In section 4 are
discussed the experimental results obtained through two
different experiments performed and in Section 5 are
presented the conclusions of this work and the future research.
At the last section, the bibliographic references are listed.
II. HARDWARE
This work proposes the design of a LEGO NXT and
LabVIEW-based mobile e-nose for odor detection (ethanol) in
a laboratory environment.
A. LEGO NXT
In 2006 the LEGO group put on the market the LEGO
Mindstorms NXT Robotic Kit. This set improves its RCX
previous version, still in use, allowing more complex
structures, designs and behaviors for robots and also useful in
sciences, technology, computing and engineering learning
[24]. The new NXT is based on the ARM-32-bit processor
AT91SAM7S256 and the ATMEGA48 co-processor. It also
comprises four inputs and three outputs ports as well as USB
and Bluetooth communication with the PC, as it is depicted in
Figure 1 (The LEGO group) [25].
Fig. 1. NXT hardware block diagram
210
B. Software
Different development environments were previously
mentioned though LabVIEW Toolkit for LEGO
MINDSTORMS NXT (National Instruments) was used for
programming and validating the application results, i.e.
ethanol sensors reading and robot movement toward the odor
source.
1) LabVIEW interface: The LabVIEW software
development environment allows implementing the so called
VI (virtual instrument): a kind of software-based instrument
supported by the PC hardware or by different devices or even
instruments connected via serial, USB, Bluetooth, PCI or
other hardware PC link interfaces. So the whole PC resources
could be used i.e. keyboard, mouse, communication ports,
display, network and Internet resources, processing
capabilities, etc. At the same time a custom made instrument
with flexible architecture (software-based), reusability,
modularity, and lower maintenance and development costs
comparing to traditional hardware-based instruments is
achieved.
2) NXT Toolkit: The Toolkit for LEGO MINDSTORMS
NXT is compatible with LabVIEW version 7.1 or higher. It
allows programming and controlling the NXT from the
LabVIEW environment, acquiring the signals on real time
from sensors and motors via USB/Bluetooth connection and
displaying they on the screen, to reutilize and design new
blocks (VIs) with new sensors or actuators, expanding the
system capability. This Toolkit presents two different toolset
or operation modes: NXT Toolkit and Direct Commands. The
first one includes controls, indicators and functions which
allow programming the NXT from LabVIEW. In this mode
the program is compiled and downloaded to the NXT for its
execution. It is also possible to send or receive data from the
PC (VI in execution) which is useful during debugging or
testing the application software running on the NXT. The
second operation mode allows programming and also running
the software in the PC under the LabVIEW environment, so
there are available the whole LabVIEW functions and its
programming resources (for developing more complex
projects), including the USB/Bluetooth connection too.
III. EXPERIMENTAL SET-UP
The robot architecture is based in a simple vehicle; it is
built using plastic LEGO blocks. Just two commercial ethanol
sensors were added (bilateral) to a known mobile robot design,
called TriBot, to carry out the application. It is also possible
to connect the optical and ultrasonic sensors from LEGO
manufacturer for obstacle avoidance, for example.
A. Sensors and actuators
The NXT input ports (1-4) allow connecting several digital
and analogue sensors. In this proposal two resistive ethanol
sensors, TGS2620, SnO2 based, from
(http://www.figaro.co.jp/) were employed. Figure 2 depicts
the gas sensor conditioning circuit. Sensor pins, 1 and 4,
supply a D.C. voltage level (VH=+5V / 40mA) to the filament
 ISSNIP Biosignals and Biorobotics Conference 2010
Theme: Biosignals and Robotics for Better and Safer Living
Vitoria, Brazil - 4-6 January 2010
heater, necessary to carry out the physical transduction. The
sensor acts like a variable resistor, Rs, depending on the
ethanol concentration. This resistance variation is converted
into a voltage signal by a simple voltage divider attached to
the NXT analogue inputs 1-2, through the NXT internal
resistors R=10KΩ (connected to +5V), as it is depicted in
Figure 3. The NXT inputs 3 and 4 were reserved for
connecting the ultrasonic and optical sensors.
The output signal voltage at resistor RS corresponds to an
ethanol vapor concentration level.
Fig. 2. Gas sensor, TGS2620, conditioning circuit
The NXT output interface includes PWM as well as built-in
rotation sensors for localization tasks by using odometry. Two
NXT D.C. motors were connected to the output ports 1 and 3,
via output interface, so control commands and encoders
information can be sent and acquire, respectively, without
using any additional hardware.
Fig. 3. Hardware schematics
The motor power consumption, according to the LEGO
manufacturer, could reach 340 mA without load and 3A with
the motor loaded. A test were performed using six Lithium
batteries for energizing two motors to the maximal speed and
then changing the rotation sense after five seconds. In that test
the battery charge remains about one hour. Considering the
sensors power consumption (40 mA each) is it possible to
carry out the experimental works within one hour. Longer
working time could be achieved using the rechargeable LEGO
NXT battery.
211
B. The Robot
The robot architecture (TriBot) is based on a two motor
differential drive and a resting passive wheel, Figure 4. In this
paper the control algorithm for the odor localization task is
based on the LEGO [26].
Fig. 4. Robot picture and ethanol sensors
C. Programming
The control software was implemented by using the
LabVIEW 7.1 platform via NXT Toolkit functions, which
support sensor data acquisition and motors control. Figure 5
depicts a Braitenberg vehicle program for acquiring signals
from the gas sensors. The code was downloaded and executed
on the Lego NXT.
Fig. 5. A Braitenberg vehicle program using LabVIEW
This code reads, converts and displays (via debugging
mode), the gas sensory raw data to power, previously scaled.
Then, the motors run for an specified amount of time.
It means that the concentration value moves the robot,
which turns in the direction of the higher concentration level
of ethanol. Also if both sensors readings are equal (into
certain limits) the robot moves forward.
IV. RESULTS
Preliminary test were carried out to validate the acquisition
system. Figure 6 depicts the temporal profile corresponding to
a sequence presenting ethanol vapor at a distance of 20 cm to
the sensors. Following the graphs on the VI front panel it can
be noted that the sample is first presented to the left sensor
 ISSNIP Biosignals and Biorobotics Conference 2010
Theme: Biosignals and Robotics for Better and Safer Living
Vitoria, Brazil - 4-6 January 2010
(SENSOR 2), then to the right sensor (SENSOR 1) and at last
it is presented in front of the robot, almost at the same
distance from both sensors. It can be observed that the voltage
signal decrease when the ethanol vapor is detected.
Fig. 6. Temporal profile corresponding to a sequence presenting ethanol
vapor to the sensors
Two different experiments were carried out, as discussed in
the next subsections.
A. Reactive behavior test
When the program started, the vehicle moved slowly on
the floor, because there was a power value even in absence of
the analite (i.e.: air atmosphere.). When a plastic pot
containing ethanol was presented to each sensor in an
alternated sequence, 2 cm away, the vehicle turned in
response. Also, a turning delay was observed due to the gas
sensor slow response, which is related to the recovering time
of the sensors. The delay will be increased if the sample is
presented when the previous turning is not finished. Once the
recovering time had elapsed, when the sensors were receiving
the same stimuli or in absence of it, the vehicle moved straight
forward. The experiment showed a slight difference in the
signal amplitudes and recovering times (order of seconds)
between both sensors, which also disturb the vehicle
performance. The effectiveness percent for 50 tests was 98 %,
so, it can be concluded that our proposed vehicle reacts and
turns in response to the gas stimulus according to the
Braitenberg principle.
B. Odor tracking test
As it is depicted on Figure 7, the Braitenberg vehicle was
placed on the shorter side of a table (117 x 73 cm) and a
plastic pot containing ethanol was place at 88 cm away of it.
A straight line (goal line) was drawn perpendicularly to the
shorter side of the table, passing through the plastic pot and
two fans were located 5 cm behind the pot. Once the fans
were powered, the pot was shaken and 10 seconds later the
program started. The time the vehicle spends to reach the goal
line and the sensors reading was registered. The system was
refreshed between the experiments by removing the pot for 1
minute.
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Fig. 7. E Set-up for the odor tracking test
In this case the vehicle exhibited a bad performance, as can
be concluded from the results showed in Table 1.
TABLE I
ODOR TRACKING TEST RESULTS
Number of Reaching Goal best Goal worst
Test the goal time (s) time (s)
performed (+/-4 cm)
15 6 (40%) 17 28
The vehicle turns slightly to right even when it is not
exposed to the ethanol stimuli due to the difference in the
amplitude responses between both sensors. In order to
improve this performance it would be possible to compensate
the sensor responses applying some reported methods (i.e.
normalization, baseline correction, etc.). Also the adequate
processing of the signals could be accomplished by using i.e.
transient responses analysis, Wavelet or Fourier transforms
and would be also recommendable to apply more complex
robot control algorithms.
LabVIEW environment offers several advantages
(processing tools, displaying data, control functions, etc.)
when Direct Command functions are employed, but this set
offers a limited number functions for sensing and controlling
the NXT motors. On the other hand, the LEGO Toolkit
comprises several functions in order to control the motors and
sensing but the processing tools are only a limited subset of
LabVIEW resources.
V. CONCLUSIONS
Odor detection represents a serious challenge in mobile
robotics and its research and development have important
human and social applications. This research, even when it
was used a non research platform like LEGO NXT, confirms
different problems related to the task of odor localization, also
common to research robotic platforms: gas sensor and
conditioning circuits selection, navigation algorithms as well
as the robotic architecture employed in this application.
In this work, on the first stage, it was presented and
validated a LEGO NXT and LabVIEW-based robotic
 ISSNIP Biosignals and Biorobotics Conference 2010
Theme: Biosignals and Robotics for Better and Safer Living
Vitoria, Brazil - 4-6 January 2010
architecture, also comprising two ethanol commercial MOS
gas sensors for an odor detection task. The robot was
constructed using LEGO pieces, implementing a simple
Braitenberg vehicle, and the software control is a VI
programmed under LabVIEW platform, which supports
LEGO NXT commands.
The presented results confirm the LEGO NXT as a viable
platform to research in mobile robotic for odor detection in a
laboratory environment, but some limitations should be keep
in mind: limited resolution of the internal ADC (10 bits) for
low concentration vapor levels, nonlinearity introduced by the
conditioning voltage divider circuit, because the gas sensor is
connected directly to NXT input pins, the cost (about 300
Euros) and also the LEGO fragility which limits its use in the
field under real conditions (ground, moisture, temperature,
etc). However, LEGO NXT offers several advantages due to
the power of its computing ARM7 microprocessor: open
source hardware and software firmware, the possibility to
expand the system connecting new sensors and actuators and
also their integration with LabVIEW software which allows
(by default) multitask programming for robotics, visualization,
processing and offers powerful debugging tools. So, the latter
make LEGO NXT and LabVIEW scalable to professional
robotic studies.
Future works will consider improving and linearizing the
sensors responses, to add more complex control techniques
exploiting the ARM7 resources, implement complex
navigation tasks as well as obstacle avoidance algorithms.
MatLab/ Simulink and the Player/Stage open source platform
will be also other choices to explore for simulation and
implementation using the LEGO NXT.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This work was supported in part by the “Red Piloto de
Cooperación Universitaria mediante Red multidisciplinaria
con ámbito regional” (08CAP2.0655) and the “Universidad de
Alcalá de Henares” (Spain) for the support information, stay
and training resources put at the disposal of the authors. We
also thank the “Proyecto CAPES-MES 069/09 (Brazil):
Desarrollo de plataforma de robótica móvil y narices
electrónicas para la detección de sustancias en el medio
ambiente”, Mr. Raúl Coyula and Mss. Liliam Becherán. Our
acknowledgments to Mr. Edson Roberto De Pieri and to the
Departamento de Automação e Sistemas, at Universidade
Federal de Santa Catarina, by the support.
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