Pluto Robot

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PLUTO PROJECT

SYSTEM Overview

Developed a lightweight and aesthetic design to fit the frame well and meanwhile integrate many functions like storage, security, simple wiring & removable electrical panel for ease of maintenance.
Light Detection And Ranging, this technology utilizes pulsed lasers to accurately and constantly measure distances to a given target or area. LiDAR sensors are essentially light-based measurement and mapping tools that are incredibly useful in autonomous navigation.
The base framework over which all other systems would be built upon. For Pluto we defined our constraints and came up with a modular solution so as to assemble and disassemble in short time, and also able to replace parts easily.
The power train consists of two independent brush-less motors controlled by ESC (electronic speed control). It provides output in combination with gear setup calculated by gear ratio.
ROS OS and Linorobot Concepts are used to develop our Pluto

The main objective of the Pluto platform, as a system, is to develop a fully-functional autonomous driving and self localizing and mapping ground robot.

 

 

Advanced suspension springs supported by strong and light control arms provide better stability during manures of the robot.
A separate firmware running on a Teensy 3.2 that receive velocity command and publish achieved velocity process with a PID controller (in a ROS manner)
LiPo” is short for lithium polymer, which describes the type of electrolyte used in LiPo batteries. The compact and lightweight design of LiPo batteries have made them a viable option for Pluto. LiPo batteries also have very high output values.

System Hierarchy view:

Technical Information:

SYSTEM CONTROL

The entire system is controlled via a webapp, that allows different nodes to run and perform the SLAM tasks or the Autonomous Navigation

THE NAVIGATION SYSTEM IN DETAIL

The main functionalities of navigation are performed with different ROS nodes that provides navigation and localization functionalities. The embedded system is running on a Raspberry Pi 3 used for first four versions of Plutorobot and Raspberry Pi 4 is for Plutorobot 5.0

By the usage of a Sick Lidar and an IMU the robot is able to perform a proper evaluation robot localization and then perform the navigation.

A sensors fusion, including the RPMs acquisition of the wheels allows the bot to navigate and localize.

Sensor Fusion for robot localization

The power train is composed by two independent brush-less motors controlled by two ESC (electronic speed control)

Brush-less Motor
ESC example (not used in this project)

A separate firmware running on a Teensy 3.2 that receive velocity command and publish achieved velocity process with a PID controller (in a ROS manner)