Control of mobile robots in formation

U ovom radu biti će prikazana izvedba algoritma za gibanje u formaciji dvaju eMIR edukativnih mobilnih robota razvijenih na Katedri za strojarsku automatiku. Problem formacijskog gibanja mobilnih robota nedovoljno je istraženo područje koje je uvelike limitirano mogućnošću izvedbe izvan zatvorenog poligona. Konstrukcija i raspored opreme(senzora) na robotima prilagođena je kako bi se omogućilo preciznije i bolje pozicioniranje jednog robota u odnosu na drugi. U radu je razvijena i Android aplikacija u online programskom paketu MIT App Inventor, razvijenom od strane Google-a i MIT Media Lab-a, koja služi za upravljanje vodećeg robota pomoću virtualnog joystick upravljača, uz pomoć bluetooth veze. Također stvorena je i programska biblioteka za upravljanje s dva ili više eMIR mobilnih robota putem serijske komunikacije u C++ programskom jeziku, sam algoritam stvoren je u Arduino Integrated Development Environment(Arduino IDE), koji se koristi za programiranje Arduino kompatibilnih mikrokontrolerskih pločica. U radu su pokrivene i teorijske osnove ostvarivanja gibanja u formaciji, te su navedene i pobliže objašnjene neke od strategija ostvarivanja i upravljanja formacije mobilnih robota kako bi se ostvarila složena djelovanja grupe robota, koja bi omogućila čitav niz primjena u stvarnom svijetu, neka od kojih se već i koriste u svakodnevnom životu, a neka tek trebaju biti plasirana na tržište.This paper will describe the development of the algorithm for controlling the formation motion of two eMIR educational mobile robots developed at the Chair of Mechanical Engineering. The problem of formation movement of mobile robots is a undeveloped area of robotics greatly limited by the possibility of execution outside of an enclosed polygon. Construction and layout of the equipment(sensors) on the robots has been modified to enable better and more precise positioning of robots in respect to each other. The paper will also show the developed Android app, made in a web based integrated development enviroment MIT App Inventor, developed by Google and MIT Media Lab, which will be used to control the leading robot using a virtual joystick controller, connected via bluetooth connection. Also a library has been developed for controlling two or more eMIR mobile robots using bluetooth serial communication, in C++ language, the algorithm for formation execution has been developed in Arudino Integrated Development Environment(Arduino IDE), which is used to programm Arduino compatible microcontroller boards. The paper will aslo cover the theoretical basis of achieving the formation of mobile robots, and will list and describe some of the strategies of creating a formation to create complex motions of a group of robots, which will achieve a number of applications in real world situations, some of which are already implemented and used, and some that yet need to be developed