Autonomous Logistics Rover: A skid-steer rover that maps a depot or warehouse once, then carries loads between named p

Ground Systems[UGV-LOGISTICS]

A skid-steer rover that maps a depot or warehouse once, then carries loads between named points on its own.

Footprint: 1.2 x 0.84m
Drive: Four-wheel skid steer
Navigation: Laser map, no satellite
Payload: On request

Overview

Moving stores inside a depot is repetitive, and the vehicles that do it are driven by people who are needed elsewhere. This rover is driven around the building once to build a map, after which a destination is a name rather than a route.

A laser scanner and an inertial solution keep it located on that map with no satellite signal indoors. Areas it must never enter are painted onto a keep-out layer. Tight passages it cannot plan through are crossed by a dedicated alignment routine that checks it is centred and square before committing, and backs out and retries rather than scraping through.

System qualities

01 / 06

Mapped once, used for years

Drive it round the floor on a transmitter, save the map, and every later task refers to that map. Re-mapping is only needed when the building changes.

02 / 06

Destinations have names

Record a point by driving to it and naming it. Afterwards the rover is sent to a name, and reports back when it arrives or when it cannot.

03 / 06

Keep-out areas it will not enter

Stairs, offices, open floor and loading doors are painted onto a keep-out layer. The planner treats them as solid.

04 / 06

Crosses gaps it cannot plan through

A passage only a few centimetres wider than the rover is crossed by a dedicated routine that lines up on the opening, verifies it is centred and square, and retries or reports failure rather than jamming.

05 / 06

Any screen is the console

One page served by the rover itself opens on a mounted touchscreen, on a controller's browser, or on any phone on the same network. No app to install.

06 / 06