Guidance and control of an unmanned holonomic robot for transport applications

In this work, indoor guidance and control of an autonomous holonomic transport robot vehicle via wireless (ZigBee) communication modules is presented. The vehicle modified as a mini forklift is equipped with four mecanum wheels which are separately driven with geared DC- Motors. In this configuration it has the capability of moving omnidirectional and to work even in very narrow areas. For indoor guidance and control of the autonomous unmanned vehicle (AUV), a remote control system existing of ZigBee wireless RF Modules, a PC as main controller and Ardupilot Mega (APM) microcontroller kit is implemented. Stationary PC as main controller can guide the vehicle to follow a calculated path autonomously through bilateral data transmission between APM and PC. As control data the angular position (yaw angle) is detected through integrated IMU (Inertial Measuring Unit) of APM and as second control parameter linear position is measured by an encoder. Besides navigation a self developed algorithm is integrated to the system for possible obstacle avoidance and optimal path finding. A Sharp distance sensor is used to detect distance and obstacles in the environment. Through integrated IMU and GPS system of APM the vehicle can be used for both indoor and outdoor applications. The results of experimental testing showed the effectiveness of the proposed approach. © IFAC