Anatomy of a Small Autonomous Vehicle

Presenter Information

Joshua Vander Hook, Minnesota State University, MankatoFollow
Wade Kallhoff, Minnesota State University, Mankato
Mitch Beckman, Minnesota State University, MankatoFollow

Location

CSU 253/254

Start Date

27-4-2009 9:30 AM

End Date

27-4-2009 12:00 PM

Student's Major

Computer Information Science

Student's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Mentor's Name

Steven Case

Mentor's Department

Computer Information Science

Mentor's College

Science, Engineering and Technology

Description

The MSU Mobile Robotics Club built a miniature, fully-autonomous vehicle for a nation-wide competition in Boulder, Colorado. The competition was inspired by the 2004 DARPA grand challenge, and involved automating a small vehicle to circumnavigate the exterior of a building. The requirements state that the vehicle must carry all computing devices with it and may not receive external input, except GPS, during the course navigation. At least two components of the vehicle had to be custom made, including devices to facilitate steering and obstacle detection. This presentation focuses on the probabilistic navigation techniques, as well as the necessity for obstacle avoidance. We outline the difficulties, accomplishments, and build process.