An Autonomous Omnidirectional Robot

RoboCup is an international research and education initiative, which aims to foster artificial intelligence and robotics research by using competitive soccer as a standard problem. This paper presents a detailed engineering design process and the outcome for an omni-directional mobile robot platform for the Robocup Middle Size League competition. A prototype that can move omnidirectionally with kicking capability was designed, built, and tested by a group of senior students. The design included a mechanical base, pneumatic kicking mechanism, a DSP microcontroller-based control system, various sensor interfacing units, and the analysis of omnidirectional motions. The testing results showed that the system was able to move omnidirectionally with a speed of ~2 m/s and able to kick a size 5 FIFA soccer ball for a distance of at least 5 meters