P10216 – Robot Navigation and Plant Platform

Mahbubul Alam (CE) – Team LeadCorey Provencher (EE) – Technical LeadMarcus Gwillim (CE)Alan Olson (EE)Nicolas Bouret (EE)

Introduction and Project Goals

• Project is part of a joint team endeavor in the Vehicle Systems and Technologies Track.

• Goal is to develop a navigation system for the robotic platform developed by P10215.– System uses navigation and plant sensors in order to capture real-

world data, and gain an understanding of the surroundings.– Develop firmware for all of the sensors.– Develop software to perform navigational tasks using sensor data.– Maintain a wireless connection to a host computer in order to send

status updates.– Hand off project to incoming P10217 and P10218 teams.

Team Roles

• Maha Alam – Team Lead, software development, sensor integration with software.

• Corey Provencher – Technical Lead, firmware development, I2C protocol, hardware integration.

• Nicolas Bouret – Sensor testing, sensor integration, soldering and electronics mounting.

• Alan Olson – Sensor testing, power management, integration and testing.

• Marcus Gwillim – Linux administration, motor control communication, navigation software development.

Customer Needs

Engineering Specs

System Architecture

Firmware Architecture

Software Architecture

Initialization

Take Care of Plant

Navigate/Wander

2 hours have passed to take care of plant

No

Yes

Store home position

Spawn other threads

Robot Controller

thread

Navigation Sensors Thread

Has been 1 second?

Check navigation sensors and write to common buffer

Yes

No

Plant Sensors Thread

Check plant sensors and

write to common buffer

Has been 30 minutes?

Yes

No

30 minutes have passed to check if robot

is out of bounds

Get Home Position

Yes

No

Robotic Platform

Boards: Master and Slaves• BeagleBoard:

• Sensor Board:

Navigation Algorithm

AligningRobot To

Destination

[Destination Specified]/Turn Robot

MovingForwards

[No Destination Specified]/Start Platform Moving Forward

Robot Aligned/Start Platform Moving Forward

MotionHalted

DestinationReached/

Halt Motion

MotionHalted

Object Detected AtFront, F. Ground/

Halt ForwardMotion

Turning DDegrees

No ObjectDetected

At D = 30°(Left)/Turn D

Degrees

No ObjectDetectedAt D = -30°(Right)/Turn DDegrees

MovingForwards

No ObjectDetected At Front,Ground/StartForward Motion

Turning -DDegrees

No Object Detected At-D/Turn -D Degrees

[Destination Specified]Turning Complete/

Align Robot

Turning Complete/Start Forward Motion

ObjectDetected

At Front, F.Ground/Halt

ForwardMotion

Moving Backwards

[No Object Detected Back,B. Ground] Object Detected

Left, Front, Right/StartBackwards Motion

Object Detected At-D/Continue Motion

Object Detected Back, B. Ground/Halt Backwards Motion

Object DetectedAt Left, Right/

Continue Motion

No ObjectDetected

At D = 30°(Left)/Turn D

Degrees

No ObjectDetected

At D = -30°(Right)/Turn D

Degrees

WaitingIncrementing

WaitCounter

SendingAlert

Object DetectedAt Left, Front,

F. Ground, Right,Back, B. Ground/

Wait for 1 min

1 min Passed/IncrementCounter

[Counter Limit Reached]/Send Alert

Alert Sent/Check Sensors

[Counter LimitNot Reached]

/Check Sensors

[No DestinationSpecified] Turning

Complete/StartForward Motion

Turning D Degrees(D = Random)

[No Destination]Random TimerLimit Reached/

Turn D=RandomDegrees

TurningComplete/

Start Platform Moving Forward

Testing - Sonar

Testing - IR

What is Completed

• Sensors are mounted on robotic frame, and are collecting environmental information.

• Information is processed and stored on MSP430 registers.• BeagleBoard reads in information and evaluates it.• Maintains connection with Host Computer over Wifi.• Groundwork is set for collision detection.• Groundwork is set for plant care.

Future Work/Recommendations

• Full testing with software, including collision detection and plant care algorithms.

• Implementation of traits that give the robot more “personality.”

• Field testing with the robot placed in crowded situations.• Hand off to Software Applications team for further

implementation of software.

Lessons Learned

• Better communication between Locomotion and Navigation teams.

• Start early development in Senior Design I.• Carefully plan integration of all hardware into a reliable setup.