KDM-I System- An Autonomous Mobile Robot System

Abstract

Focusing primari iy on system architecture, this paper describes the current status of a truly mobile robot, the KDM-1, in our Laboratory. Fully self-contained and equipped with a single vision, low Level sensors, such as ultrasonic, and an odometer, the KDM-1 is capable of performing several functions including detcting and avoiding obstacles, road-following along a preplamed global path, and if necessary, reptanning the global path according to the sensor information, and i t can be remotecontrolled by human operator. The controller, a multi-processor computer which consisting of five microprocessors organized in a distributed hierarchical structure, is the core of the KDM-1, It controls a1 1 ; inc l and imp Rea of S tocomation, actuatian and physical sensing, interacts with a stationed computer host or human operator by radio communication to ement varying degrees of autonomy. -time operation is one of the main features he controller . nsor fusion is another feature of the simple rule utilizing the position information to control the KDM-1 to follow the central Line of the road in the road-following mode. Five ultrasonic range finders are used to detect the area before the robot for obstacles. This infornation ensures that the robot travels only where i t is permitted and where i t is able. Finally in this paper, we present the results of our experiments, and our future research goals.