Development of a low cost differential drive Intelligent Ground Vehicle

Autonomous Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV's) are serving as a platform for specialized vehicles that are deployed in a wide range of fields including urban, military, domestic, and industrial settings. In this paper we present the development of a low cost UGV that uses various sensors including, a laser range finder, electronic compass, a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, computer vision, and intelligent control to detect safe travel areas and follow GPS waypoints. The battery powered UGV uses two electric motors that are actuated through Pulse Width Modulation (PWM), while implementing a differential drive that allows for great maneuverability using relatively a simple control. The vehicle was designed for, and competed at the 19'th annual Intelligent Ground Vehicle Competition (IGVC) held at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan in June 2011. The implemented capabilities demonstrate the vehicles suitability to function as a platform for various applications such as autonomous mine detection, border or pipeline surveillance, warehouse organization or transport in manufacturing.