Autonomous Rover

[Gary]

Here is my (as yet unfinished) effort:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/retro.spect1/rob10.JPG

It's a 4 wheel independant drive chassis with ackerman steered pairs (independant again) front and rear. There will an arm mounted at one end, and a central sensor tower towards the middle.

It's not autonomous at the moment - or indeed any sort of 'mous' - the preliminary wiring will be going in at the end of the year, and I need to get the motor controllers sorted out first - the layers of control will then start going on, the first being simple wireless operation.. at approx 100kgs though I need to be rather careful just how much autonomy I give it :)

hope you like!

[dporter]

It is a work of art. Very nice, I look forward to seeing more of it as it progresses.

[HarryBotter]

That bot looks really neat, you must live above a machine shop!

We need more information if you're free to share. What's your goal for this bot, that'll help with trying to envision how this will all be put together?

Also looking forward to more details. Harry

[Gary]

Hi guys - thanks for the kind words.

I am guilty of a certain amount of form over function - part of the remit of this project was to teach myself some simple machining, and it's certainly done that - it's almost all home-built - not in a machine shop, but a garden shed.. a machine shed, if you will :)

A little more info - it's pneumatic suspension all round, and the small compressor & reservior is all on board.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/retro.spect1/rob13.JPG

This will allow it to compensate for loads, and if need be, go belly-down for stability whilst the arm is in use.

Steering & suspension angles are all optically encoded - as are the drive motors and wheels - steering is by stepper, drive via DC gearhead motors and a V-belt system.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/retro.spect1/rob11.JPG
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/retro.spect1/rob12.JPG

I've still to choose microcontrollers for each of the closed loop control systems - these will be slaves to a master controller, and that in turn to a mini-ITX board. Initially I want to get a wireless link up and running for a shake down - then add ultrasonic ranging (several of these), and video. Ultimately GPS - and try to get to grips with autonomous route-finding etc. Basically, to start experimenting with outdoor navigation and goal identification, automated recharge at base etc.

It's quietly sitting in the garage now - and has been for some time due to major work on the house, but that's finally coming to an end now, and once I'm able to relocate the workroom and set back up again, I'll be back at it :)

[HarryBotter]

Thanks for the details Gary, I'm impressed.

I've got a similar, but much less majestic, project on the boards. I've got an E-Maxx 4-wheel drive model truck that I'm converting to a Robomagellan type robot with GPS, vision, compass, sonar, etc. I've got most of the major components, just have to get a few more before I start assembling and coding.

We'll have to share notes through the forum on our progress periodically.

Cheers, Harry

[TheDuck]

Gary, that thing's gorgeous!

Do you have an ultimate goal for this or is it a research platform for now?

[TheDuck]

...or indeed any sort of 'mous'...
LOL

Another thought, do you have a strategy yet for how you are developing the control software for this?

[Gary]

for now - it's purely something to exercise (and hopefully extend) my knowledge with. A lot of the features are there for the simple reason I've never experimented with them before - like the pneumatics, and the odd choice of chassis configuration (as opposed to skid steer).

the software, as yet, does not exist - and right now the requirements are vague, to say the least. Ultimately, a Linux O/S with a C++ executive seems the most logical choice - but there is a lot of lower level embedded code to deal with first before any top level control can be written in any more than placeholder fashion. I'm not sure if I trust my integration and interface requirements gathering and specification skills enough to even think that far ahead yet!

[Gary]

a link to a thread on another forum, which has a few more pics:

http://botbuilder.org/showthread.php?t=9