Java Reference
In-Depth Information
Table 10.2
The telemeter device commands
Command
Description
Positions the rotary tower at the
dir
direction (in degrees)
ROTATETO [dir]
Reads the distance to the nearest obstacle in front of the laser device
READ
Gets a distance measure every single degree while the rotary tower is rotating
clockwise for 360 degrees
Returns the set of measures (degree
-
distance). The distance is set to 0 if the
obstacle is too far
SCAN
Scans the area in front of the robot between 045 and !45 degrees. It repeats the
scan until it detects an obstacle
DETECT
can be estimated with a resolution of half a metre. The sonar devices have
the advantage of covering a wide area around the robot and of reading
measures quickly (one per second). The onboard computer supports the
high-level commands listed in Table 10.3.
10.1.3
Onboard computer
The autonomous mobile robot is equipped with an onboard computer that
communicates with the remote control station using a serial or wireless con-
nection. The computer hosts the software application that controls the
robot's motion and sensing activities. The control application waits for com-
mands from the remote station (e.g. read a laser measure) and returns
responses (e.g. the distance to the nearest obstacle). It manages the robot's
devices independently. For example, the laser detects obstacles while the
mobile platform is moving forward. The control application has an open
architecture that allows the plug-and-play configuration of new sensors on
the robot.
10.1.4
Remote control station
The remote control station coordinates the robot's activities, builds a
representation of the explored environment and visualizes the graphical
user interface. The exploration strategy is based on the Move
2
Sense
2
y
θ
x
Figure 10.3
The sonar ring structure
