Design and Development of a Smart Quadruped Spider Robot Using ESP32 with Obstacle Avoidance Vision-Based Face Detection and MQTT Control

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-764-4_14How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Quadruped Robot; ESP32-Based Embedded System; Obstacle Avoidance; Face Detection; Multi-Modal Communication; Indoor Surveillance

Abstract

Legged robotic platforms offer enhanced mobility in constrained indoor environments compared to wheeled systems, making them suitable for surveillance and inspection tasks. This work designs and builds a compact quadruped spider robot using the ESP32 embedded platform. This architecture integrates obstacle avoidance, vision-based face detection, live video streaming, and multi-modal communication control. The system employs eight MG90S servo motors configured in a two degree of freedom system per leg arrangement and implements a statically stable four-phase crawl gait using PWM based smooth interpolation at 50 Hz. Reactive ultrasonic-based obstacle avoidance ensures safe navigation, while the onboard ESP32-CAM module performs light-weight face detection and identity recognition for up to three registered users. Unknown face events trigger real-time alert notifications via a Telegram-based communication interface conceptually aligned with MQTT messaging principles. The robot further supports Bluetooth-based voice control for intuitive human–robot interaction. Experimental validation demonstrates 93% obstacle avoidance accuracy, 95% remote command execution success over 60 trials, 180 ms average control latency, 350 ms video streaming latency, 88% face detection accuracy, and stable locomotion under an additional 200 g payload. The proposed system provides a compact, low-cost, and energy-efficient mobile surveillance platform suitable for indoor monitoring applications.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - K. Shravani
AU  - P. Padmaja
AU  - Shivani Sunkara
AU  - Desika Sai Praneeth Vadla
AU  - Y. Bala Venkata Harshin
AU  - T. Pavan Kalyan
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/09/04
TI  - Design and Development of a Smart Quadruped Spider Robot Using ESP32 with Obstacle Avoidance Vision-Based Face Detection and MQTT Control
BT  - Proceedings of the International Conference on Mechanics, Materials and Mechatronics (ICM³ 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 166
EP  - 174
SN  - 2589-4943
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-764-4_14
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-764-4_14
ID  - Shravani2026
ER  -