A Robot Architecture for Outdoor Competitions

• Published in: Journal of intelligent & robotic systems 2020-09, Vol.99 (3-4), p.629-646
• Main Authors: de Oliveira, Rodrigo W. S. M., Bauchspiess, Ricardo, Porto, Letícia H. S., de Brito, Camila G., Figueredo, Luis F. C., Borges, Geovany A., Ramos, Guilherme N.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Architecture; Artificial Intelligence; Autonomous navigation; Autonomy; Computer simulation; Control; Controllers; Electrical Engineering; Engineering; Extended Kalman filter; Formability; Global positioning systems; GPS; Inertial platforms; Mechanical Engineering; Mechatronics; Model reference adaptive control; Path planning; Robotics; Robots
• ISSN: 0921-0296; 1573-0409
• DOI: 10.1007/s10846-019-01140-9

Autonomous navigation in unstructured environments is a common topic of research, being motivated by robotic competitions and involving several sets of skills. We present a modular architecture to integrate different components for path planning and navigation of an autonomous mobile robot. This architecture was developed in order to participate in the RoboMagellan competition hosted by RoboGames. It is divided in the organizational, functional and executive levels in order to secure that the developed system has programmability, autonomy, adaptability and extensibility. Global and local localization strategies use unscented and extended Kalman filters (UKF and EKF) to fuse data from a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, inertial measurement unit (IMU), odometry and camera. Movement is controlled by a model reference adaptive controller (MRAC) and a proportional controller. To avoid obstacles a deformable virtual zone (DVZ) approach is used. The architecture was tested in simulated environments and with a real robot, providing a very flexible approach to testing different configurations.