Design and fabrication of a novel three wheel robot with a SLE based lifting mechanism and line tracking capability

摘要

The present paper deals with the design and development of a modular three wheel robot capable of autonomously navigating a structured environment by means of tracking a curved line on the floor. Furthermore, it is equipped with a deployable scissor lift with an end effecter plate thus providing applicative modularity to the robot. The main application is envisaged to serve as an automatic guided vehicle in industries such as automotive and construction where cost effectiveness is an essential criterion for automation and mobility is a highly desirable functionality. Mechanical design is carried out using stress analysis with the help of the finite element software package ANSYS and velocity response curves are generated for the highly non-linear motion of the scissor lift. Finally an algorithm is developed for high speed line tracking using LED and phototransistor pairs and results are presented in terms of experimental data as well as simulated responses.