Autonomous Rover
#1

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Started working on this back in July. At first I was going to use Lidar for SLAM but then I discovered the Zed depth camera. Mine finally came in last week. The rover is pretty much done except for programming. Some of that is working but I'm new to ROS so the going is slow.



Elbow joint on each end of outriggers so you can adjust the ground clearance and wheelbase.
The wheelbase with those at 45deg is 32 inches. 7in dia tires. Chassis tubes are all carbon fiber and the rest is aluminum. All the hardware and carbon is from Actobotics (servocity.com) Nice stuff and they have a part for every occasion.
The brain is a pair of Nvidia Jetson computers one takes care of the Zed and the other is the exec and takes care of the lidar (Lidar Lite V2) GPS IMU and a webcam as well as being the master node for ROS.
I also have the option of putting a 10 channel analyzer onboard with the data going back to my laptop via usb over WiFi. The open source software has templates for I2c USB and serial comms. Translates all that hex into english for you. Much easier to debug. So I have all the com interfaces covered with a few inputs left over to look at PWM etc.
It will have a 4.3 in touchscreen status/control panel. Was going to use a 2 line lcd but decided to cannibalize the wireless handpad I built for my telescope for the bot.

It will have more than this screen. This is just the main status and control screen.
The payload is suspended on a single shaft that also serves as the pivot point for the outriggers. The base is kept level with a pair of struts and a truss on a pivot.

Easy to slide up and down the mast to adjust the level of the base.

The Zed Depth Camera. Up to 2K res. Has SDK and ROS driver for the Nvidia. It requires a GPU so the Tegra's are the only embedded boards that will run it. Each pixel has depth info attached to it. This is used with slam-gmapping in ROS to allow it to navigate and localize.

Quite a bit of electronics onboard. Using a 15A dc to dc converter/booster for car computers for 12v power from the 4S lipo. Its intelligent has overcurrent overvoltage and low battery cut off. The motor controller is a 2x45A RoboClaw. Motors are 400oz/in 425rpm 20:1 planetary gear motors. Should be good for about 8mph. Hoping to get to Boulder next summer for AVC and see how it does.
Griz



Elbow joint on each end of outriggers so you can adjust the ground clearance and wheelbase.
The wheelbase with those at 45deg is 32 inches. 7in dia tires. Chassis tubes are all carbon fiber and the rest is aluminum. All the hardware and carbon is from Actobotics (servocity.com) Nice stuff and they have a part for every occasion.
The brain is a pair of Nvidia Jetson computers one takes care of the Zed and the other is the exec and takes care of the lidar (Lidar Lite V2) GPS IMU and a webcam as well as being the master node for ROS.
I also have the option of putting a 10 channel analyzer onboard with the data going back to my laptop via usb over WiFi. The open source software has templates for I2c USB and serial comms. Translates all that hex into english for you. Much easier to debug. So I have all the com interfaces covered with a few inputs left over to look at PWM etc.
It will have a 4.3 in touchscreen status/control panel. Was going to use a 2 line lcd but decided to cannibalize the wireless handpad I built for my telescope for the bot.

It will have more than this screen. This is just the main status and control screen.
The payload is suspended on a single shaft that also serves as the pivot point for the outriggers. The base is kept level with a pair of struts and a truss on a pivot.

Easy to slide up and down the mast to adjust the level of the base.

The Zed Depth Camera. Up to 2K res. Has SDK and ROS driver for the Nvidia. It requires a GPU so the Tegra's are the only embedded boards that will run it. Each pixel has depth info attached to it. This is used with slam-gmapping in ROS to allow it to navigate and localize.

Quite a bit of electronics onboard. Using a 15A dc to dc converter/booster for car computers for 12v power from the 4S lipo. Its intelligent has overcurrent overvoltage and low battery cut off. The motor controller is a 2x45A RoboClaw. Motors are 400oz/in 425rpm 20:1 planetary gear motors. Should be good for about 8mph. Hoping to get to Boulder next summer for AVC and see how it does.
Griz
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info.kevinjackson (10-27-2021)