Many robotic experiments are conducted on mobile robots. Various implementations of mobile robots exist, most of which offer high precision and endurance for a high price. Many experiments in academic environments do not require expensive high-precision mobile robots, but instead might work well on simple self-made systems. In the past we have designed and build a small (20cm diameter) robot for desktop experiments; here we would like to scale this design to a slightly larger and more robust indoor floor/table robot (about 30cm diameter).

In this job the student will study the existing design of a holonomic (omni-directional) mobile robot and develop and build a larger version. This includes evaluation of appropriate actuators (motors) and basic sensors, such as bump (touch) sensors, infra-red distance, wheel-encoders, possibly acceleration, gyroscope, compass, etc. The student will design and implement an improved version of such a mobile robot. We will provide access to rapid prototyping systems (a 2d lasercutter, possibly a 3d printer, and a PCB-mill), on which students can design and implement mechanic and electronic components. Finally, a software library and a separate GUI for robotic motion and sensor display shall be implemented.

 

Your tasks:

• Evaluation of actuators and sensors for a larger omnidirectional robot
• Design and implementation of electronics for robot control
• Building of such a robot
• Development of software for robot control and sensor interface, low level library and separate GUI
• Substantial Documentation of Robot, Software, etc.

 

This job requires experience in:

• hardware development (electronics)
• mechanical construction and tools
• microcontroller programming (in C) for ARM7 / ARM Cortex M3
• C/Java library development on PC (Window, Linux)
• vector graphic software such as CorelDraw for mechanical sketches

 

Please contact Jörg Conradt by email if you are interested in this position. In your email state concisely (i.e. in a few lines!) why you are well suited for this task and outline your experience in the areas requested above. Thank you!