Turtlebot3
Timeframe: Spring 2024
Scope: EGRS372 Mobile Robotics Lab
Problem: To learn how to use ROS with C++ to control an autonomous mobile robot and have it perform missions involving sensors and safety constraints
EGRS372 Mobile Robotics Lab
The Turtlebot3 is the educational mobile robot used to teach fundamentals of mobile robots and ROS to students in EGRS372. The labs primarily involve writing C++ autonomy code and using ROS to run it on the bot’s Raspberry Pi.
The Turtlebot3 me and my lab partner used
Some examples of labs include:
Using the built in LiDAR and RViz to create a map of the lab to navigate around it for that and following labs.
Editing the Arduino code on the turtlebot’s control board to add peripherals such as buttons and a screen.
Simulate a factory mission of delivering parts in a pick and place operation, and return to a home location for charging.
Adding safety to that simulated factory mission to have the turtlebot slow down for crosswalk areas, and stop to avoid collision with humans.
Additionally, a final lab project included rudimentary swarming, as we paired with another lab group and recreated our last lab with two turtlebots performing the same mission in the same area while slowing down, stopping, or changing course to avoid collision with each other or with humans in the work area.
RViz map of the mobile robotics lab
MATH401 Math Modeling Final Project
The semester I took EGRS372 I was also taking MATH401 Mathematical Modeling. Since I was in both and was interested in graph theory models, I decided to make my final modeling project about the Turtlebot3. I took our map of the robotics lab, placed a grid of 74 equidistant points around the room to represent the places I wanted the robot to be able to go, and turned it into a graph in MATLAB. I then wrote a simple script that used the shortest path algorithm to calculate the distance and then reported the distance and how long it would take for the Turtlebot3 to drive to any point in the room.
(left) The resulting graph of the robotics lab
A drawing of my points over the map developed in EGRS372