Design of a Smart Solar-Recharge Electric Cart for Location Recognition and Guided Tours using IoT

Ashesi University is an intellectual destination that welcomes a diverse set of domestic and international visitors regularly. These include tourists, visiting researchers, scholars, scientists, other academic institutions, government agencies, nonprofit organizations, exchange students, and employees from industry. Regardless of the purpose of the visit, visitors are attracted to tour the campus. However, there are limited campus tour guides, and the few are sometimes occupied with other duties. Other times, unfavorable weather and distance between campus facilities hinder people from fulfilling their tourism dreams. The electric tour cart project thus seeks to improve tourism on university campuses, amusement parks, and recreational centers, as well as contribute to the sustainable transportation agenda with its eco-friendly nature, quiet operation, and expected lower operating costs. It promises to make tourism more fun and accessible to everyone, including persons with disabilities. This paper presents the design, fabrication, and deployment of a smart solar-rechargeable electric cart with location services and guided tours using Internet of Things (IoT). Results from the test of the proposed system support the benefits of implementing such a system in the tourism industry. The location proximity feature was implemented with a 0.3-meter error margin under optimum environmental conditions and a 3.5 meters error margin in immensely obstructed areas. The solar panel demonstrates the potential to reduce CO
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emissions by 420 kg per year. The cart can operate for 5 hours on a single charge when connected to the solar. The solar panel also increased the driving range by 30%.