3MO.R.D.U.C. 3rd version of the MObile Robot DIEES University of Catania

The 3MO.R.D.U.C. is a wheeled mobile robot with a differential drive kinematic configuration. This open robotic platform was successfully used in localization and navigation experiments. The robot structure has three shelves linked together. On the lowest shelf, two lead batteries (12V/18Ah) provide the power supply. The robot autonomy is about 30-40 min. for continuous working. The on board electronic rack controls each module of the robot (motion, sensors and communication modules). Several sensors on board monitor the workspace and the robot state. A belt of bumpers (16 switches) around the entire perimeter is mounted on the robot base, just over the wheels level. These sensors recognize and reduce damage in case of a collision. The two robot motor axes are equipped with incremental encoders (resolution of 500 pulses per turn). These sensors are useful to calculate heading and position of the robot by using the kinematic model. To detect obstacles on the workspace the robot has an on board Laser Measurement Sensor (LMS) and a sonar belt (8 sonars).The LMS operates by measuring the flight time of a pulsed laser light beam that is reflected by obstacle. An internal rotating mirror deflects the transmitted pulsed laser beam so that a scan is made Stereoscopic Robot Teleguide based on Laser and Video sensors of the surrounding area. The time between transmission and reception of the light pulse is directly proportional to the distance between the scanner and the object. The sonar sensors measure the distance from an obstacle using the flight time of an ultrasonic signal produced by means of a vibrating piezoelectric sensor. On the robot there are also two high quality stereoscopic cameras; each one has a resolution of 1.3 Megapixel; they are equipped with fixed focus lens of 4.0 mm.

The CCD sensors of these cameras have a good noise immunity and sensibility; moreover, it is possible to adjust all the image parameter, e.g.

exposure gain, frame rate, resolution. The cameras are mounted on a rigid support; it permits to simply adjust the camera distance in a range 5-20 cm.