Integrated hardware

The Pioneer LX features the following hardware:

• Intel D525 64-bit dual core CPU @1.8 GHz
• Intel GMA 3150 integrated graphics processing unit
• Intel 6235ANHMW wireless network adapter
• Ports for ethernet, RS-232, USB, VGA, and various other analog and digital I/O
• SICK 300 and SICK TiM 510 laser scanner, for navigation and object detection.
• Sonar sensors and a bumper panel.
• Joystick for manual control.
• A 60 A h battery, expected to power the robot continuously for up to 13 hours.
• Automated charging station, allowing the robot to dock autonomously.

SICK S-300 laser range sensor

SICK S-300 is the laser rangefinder module on the Pioneer LX. It has 240 field of view, 30 meter maximum range and angular resolution. This may appear as a low resolution for things further away, but when you move the robot to map the surroundings it works well. When creating a map of an area the Mapper3 software will smooth out the area and create a high resolution map for you. One major issue with the SICK S-300 is that it cannot see obstacles above the robot base. Therefor we need to be careful with tables and other similar obstacles.

Kill Switch

The kill switch is a big red button that has to be raised before the motors will receive any power. If the robot ever acts unexpectedly, or is a danger for people or itself, we can hit this big red button to stop it. If needed, hardware can be connected to a special power connection on the battery which will stop delivering power when the switch is down

Pioneer LX software and libraries

See the MobileRobots wiki

Hardware control libraries
These libraries are required on the Pioneer LX for the onboard computer to communicate with the robots actuators and sensors.

• ARIA: Advanced Robot Interface for Applications (ARIA) is a C++ library (software development toolkit or SDK) for all MobileRobots/ActivMedia platforms. ARIA can dynamically control your robot's velocity, heading, relative heading, and other motion parameters either through simple low-level commands or through its high-level Actions infrastructure. ARIA also receives position estimates, sonar readings, and all other current operating data sent by the robot platform.
• ARNL: ARNL is a set of software packages built on top of ARIA for intelligent navigation and localization. "Localization" allows the program to keep track of where the robot is and "navigation" allows the robot to get to a given destination.

Useful programs:

• MobileEyes: A GUI for remotely monitoring and controlling a robot.
• MobileSim: Pioneer LX simulator.
• Mapper3: Map editor.

A Map of Glassgården, Elektrobygget, NTNU has been made.

Dynamic DNS

It is necessary to set up a static IP address for the Pioneer LX, as to not have to connect a screen and keyboard each time one wants to find the robots IP. A dynamic DNS (DDNS) will automatically update the current dynamic IP of the robot, to a static domain name. This is e.g. useful for SSH to the Pioneer LX:

• Instead of: _{^{ssh USERNAME@IP_ADDRESS}} (where you must look up the IP each time)
• Use: ^{_{ssh USERNAME@DOMAIN_NAME}} (which is static)

A static domain name is also useful when using MobileEyes.

DDNS from NTNU
We have previously used No-IP below (which may still be easiest). NTNU however, also provides some support for static IP addresses: Faste IP-adresser og DHCP

No-IP
No-IP provides a simple setup. After installing No-IP software on the Pioneer LX, the domain is updated with the current IP address automatically by No-IP running in the background. - Due to the current use of a free subscription, the host must be updated within every 30 days (basically just turn on the Pioneer LX within every 30 days). A yearly plan can be purchased so that the host will never expire.

...

.