CAI3034 – Autonomous Mobile Robotics Prepared by WS Ooi

Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV)

Automated Guided Vehicle (AGV) is an unmanned, computer-controlled mobile robot that is used to
transport material and goods from one place to another.

The wired sensor is installed on the bottom of the AGV’s. A guide wire is placed under the ground to
transmit radio signal. The sensor detects the relative position of the radio signal being transmitted from
the guide wire. This information is used to regulate the steering circuit, making the AGV follow the wire.

AGVs are commonly used to transport raw materials such as paper, steel, rubber, metal, and plastic.
This includes transporting materials from receiving to the warehouse, and delivering materials directly to
production lines. Pallet handling is an extremely popular application for AGVs as repetitive movement of
pallets is very common in manufacturing and distribution facilities. AGVs can move pallets from the
palletizer to stretch wrapping to the warehouse/storage or to the outbound shipping docks. Work-in-
Process movement is one of the first applications where automated guided vehicles were used, and
includes the repetitive movement of materials throughout the manufacturing process. AGVs can be used
to move material from the warehouse to production/processing lines or from one process to another.
Moving finished goods from manufacturing to storage or shipping often require the gentlest material
handling because the products are complete and subject to damage from rough handling. Because
AGVs operate with precisely controlled navigation and acceleration and deceleration this minimizes the
potential for damage making them an excellent choice for this type of application

However, AGV is not suitable for non-repetitive tasks. This is because the hardware is coded to repeat
the same task for equal interval of time. If the task is altered under certain condition, the AGV’S cannot
be used unless the software is altered which is major drawback and the whole manufacturing unit will be
stopped.

AGV - Automated guided vehicle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCupqZqq7PQ

Robotic Sensors

Proprioceptive sensors measure values internally to the system (robot), e.g. battery level, wheel
position, joint angle, etc. Examples of proprioceptive sensors: encoders, potentiometers, gyroscopes,
compasses,etc. Exteroceptive sensors are used for the observation of the environments and objects.
Examples of exteroceptive: sonar sensors, IR sensitive sensors, ultrasonic distance sensors.

Ultrasonic sensor can be used for determining the proximity of objects (solid walls) while the robot is
navigating. The ultrasonic sensor uses time of flight (TOF) method for distance measurement.In this
method, the time taken for a pulse to travel from the transmitter to an observed object and back to the
receiver is recorded and used to calculate distance by d=0.5*c*t , where d= distance between a sensor
and an object, c=speed of light and t= time difference between the emission of a signal and its return to
the sensor, after being reflected by an object

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CAI3034 – Autonomous Mobile Robotics Prepared by WS Ooi

The ultrasonic sensor is attached in front of the robot. Whenever the robot is going on the
desired path the ultrasonic sensor transmits the ultrasonic waves continuously from its sensor head.
Whenever an obstacle comes ahead of it, the ultrasonic waves are reflected back from an object and
that information is passed to the microcontroller of the robot. The microcontroller receives the data and
performs the necessary movement of the robot to help the robot to avoid obstacle.

Photoresistor

A photoresistor is a light-dependent resistor (LDR) that covers the spectral sensitivity similar to that
of the human eye. The active elements of these photoresistors are made of Cadmium Sulfide (CdS).
Light enters into the semiconductor layer applied to a ceramic substrate and produces free charge
carriers. A defined electrical resistance is produced that is inversely proportional to the illumination
intensity. In other words, darkness causes more resistance, and brightness causes less resistance.

The resistance of a photoresistor decreases with light intensity. When the photoresistor is shaded, its
resistance value is large. On the other hand, when the photoresistor is not shaded, its resistance value is
low. The photoresistor circuit does not work if the wrong value of resistor is chosen. If a spoilt
photoresistor is swap with a new one, the resistor value must be computed again. It is time consuming to
compute the right resistor value for a given photoresistor. To overcome this problem the
resistor/capacitor (RC) circuit is used.

The BASIC Stamp can be programmed to charge the capacitor in the RC circuit and then measure
the time it takes the capacitor's voltage to decay below 1.4 V. Firstly, P6 sends the high signal, it charges
the capacitor by applying 5V to it. BASIC Stamp program then changes the I/O pin so that it just quietly
listens to the capacitor to lose its charge. As the capacitor looses its charge through the photoresistor, its
voltage decays, getting lower and lower. If the photoresistor has a large resistance value due to very dim

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CAI3034 – Autonomous Mobile Robotics Prepared by WS Ooi

lighting conditions, the capacitor takes longer to discharge. If the photoresistor has a small resistance
value because the light incident on its surface is very bright, it will not resist current very strongly, and the
capacitor will lose its charge very rapidly. This decay time measurement can be used to indicate how
bright the light detected by the photoresistor really is. The program is adjusted to compare the decay
times and to determine the relative light levels. This means no more manually calculating and replacing
the series resistors if the lighting in the room changes.

The application of photoresistor in a line follower robot

The line follower robot uses light sensitive sensors to calculate the reflectance of the surface beneath
them. The black line has a lesser reflectance value (black absorbs light) than the lighter surface around it.
The higher value of reflectance will be the surface around the line. So, if the leftmost or rightmost sensor
presents the low value for reflectance, then the black line is toward the left or right of the robot
correspondingly. The controller then compensates for this by signaling the motor to go in the opposite
direction of the line.

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CAI3034 – Autonomous Mobile Robotics Prepared by WS Ooi

Wheel odometry
In a robotic system, a feedback controller is employed to measure the output of the system and then
manipulates the input as needed to drive the actuator and manipulator toward the desired setpoint.
Feedback sensors such as encoders are attached to the wheels of a mobile robot. The control system
specifies the amount of power that should be applied to the motors to make them turn, but their speed is
also affected by the amount of load on the motor. In order for the robot to travel at a constant speed, the
feedback sensors determine how fast the robot is moving, and adjusts the power level to the motors as
needed.

Accurate localization of a vehicle is a fundamental challenge in mobile robot applications. A robot

must maintain knowledge of its position over time to achieve autonomous navigation. Therefore, various
sensors, techniques, and systems for mobile robot positioning, such as wheel odometry, laser/ultrasonic
odometry, global position system (GPS), global navigation satellite system (GNSS), inertial navigation
system (INS), and visual odometry (VO), have been developed by researchers and engineers. However,
each technique has its own weaknesses.

Wheel odometry is a relative positioning technique which use data from motion sensors to estimate
robot position relative to the initial location. The rotary encoders (wheel encoders) are the main sensors
used in wheel odometry. Rotary encoders can provide information about the motion or the steering angle
of the vehicle.

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CAI3034 – Autonomous Mobile Robotics Prepared by WS Ooi

Wheel odometry is the simplest technique available for position estimation. Wheel odometry is simple
and inexpensive, allows for high sampling rates, and exhibits good short-term accuracy. However, it has
several limitations:

 Wheel odometry suffers from position drift and inaccuracy because of wheel slippage, which leads to
error accumulation over time.
 Different wheel sizes for multiple-wheel drive systems
 Inaccurate wheel diameter measurement or misaligned wheels

The odometry-based navigation flowchart for a mobile robot with a compass sensor and a laser
rangefinder is as follows,