The ares robot: Case study of an affordable service robot

Abstract

Robustness is pivot for robots operating in all-terrain environments. This demand comes mainly due to the highly heterogeneous and unstructured nature of the terrain. Two particular topics are sensitive to this problem: locomotion control and wheel odometry. A behaviour-based approach is proposed for the locomotion control system, whereas a heuristic exploiting the kinematic and dynamical constraints of the robot is used to enhance wheel odometry accuracy. Experimental results on the Ares robot, which is a vehicle with four independently steered wheels, show the ability of the proposed methods to cope with all-terrain environments. In addition, the modules for localisation, mapping, and obstacle avoidance are also addressed in order to provide a global perspective over the Ares robot's control system. © 2008 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.