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Artificial Intelligence and Soft Computing: Behavioral ... - Arteimi.info

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24.1 Mobile Robots<br />

Mobile robots are equipped with various types of sensors to recognize the<br />

world around them. In most of the commercial robots [1], [13], where<br />

navigation is required in a closed environment (like factory), ultrasonic<br />

sensors are adequate. For long range navigation of the order of 100 meters or<br />

more, laser range finders are occasionally employed in robots. Further, for<br />

determining the shape <strong>and</strong> structure of the objects in its territory, video<br />

cameras are mounted with the robot. The cameras grab color or gray images,<br />

which are processed by a computer placed within the robot. Fig. 24.1<br />

describes the external features of the Nomad Super Scout II mobile robot,<br />

manufactured by the Nomadic Technologies, USA. It has 14 ultrasonic<br />

sensors, mounted around its entire periphery, covering a total of 360 degrees.<br />

A video camera is<br />

camera<br />

Ultrasonic<br />

sensors<br />

wheels<br />

Tactile sensor<br />

Fig. 24.1: The Nomad Super Scout II robot (collected from the<br />

public utilities of the internet site).<br />

fixed with the robot to acquire the gray images around its world. The ring<br />

below the ultrasonic sensors, surrounding the robot, serves the purpose of<br />

tactile sensors. The robot has two large <strong>and</strong> one small wheels. The large<br />

wheels are driven by separate stepper motors to control the linear <strong>and</strong> circular<br />

motion of the robot. For instance, when both the motors are moved at equal<br />

speed, the robot moves forward; when the left motor moves, but the right is<br />

static, the robot moves in clockwise direction. Similarly, when the left wheel<br />

is static <strong>and</strong> the right is comm<strong>and</strong>ed to move, the robot moves anti-clockwise.<br />

The differential velocity of the motors thus can be used to move the robot<br />

along a prescribed direction. The third small back wheel is required for<br />

mechanical balancing, <strong>and</strong> it has no active control. We used the above robot<br />

for our experiments in Robotics <strong>and</strong> Vision Laboratory, Jadavpur University.

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