Design of a Low-Cost Autonomous Mobile Robot for Outdoor Applications

In today’s world, many companies are looking for low-cost automated alternatives to industrial processes that can save time and money. Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR’s) are an appealing new alternative to complete tasks with base chassis and interchangeable tops that allow for standardization along with multifunctionality. With improvements in motors, motor controllers, location technology, vision, and IR sensors and a variety of other sensors, many complex tasks are attainable and simpler to complete. AMR’s can also be adapted to the operating environment whether it is on a manufacturing floor or in the field exposed to different elements. Using this equipment and implementing an odometry positioning method, an AMR can be designed to travel to pre-planned coordinates and perform desired tasks at each target point. Calculations to select hardware that satisfies requirements for this application are discussed. Strategies for motion control and positioning are also shown along with their advantages and disadvantages. Other subsystems are designed and attached to the robot to allow the robot to operate with awareness of its environment. To test the AMR’s abilities, a series of experiments are designed to analyze the robot’s strengths and identify sources of error. With these tests, data is collected to compare the position calculation accuracy and analyze the speed and orientation of the robot. Based on these results, there will be suggested adjustments for future work of AMRs in this field.