Turtle Beetle

This robot took part into Field Robot Event 2010 in Braunschweig Germany. The result in the overall competition was 3rd (3rd in Task 1; 2nd in Task 3), and won the 2nd prize in freestyle with it's onboard pneumatic control system (the suspension and a patch seed drill).

The robot

Special features

One of the extraordinary features in this robot is usage of pneumatics onboard. Basic pneumatic systems contains onboard 12VDC compressor, air container and a microcontroller based pressure control. The pneumatics is used for three purposes: a) in sprayer with 3/2 valves and vacuum generator (ejector) to form water fog to control weeds, b) in patch seed drill to lift and lower coulter arms, and to blow seeds to the end of arms, and c) in suspension to do active anti-roll control which is beneficial when driving in slope terrain.

Axle modules encapsulate drive train and steering, and are independently microprosessor controlled. Three axle modules were constructed and the third is a spare one. The axle modules are an improved design of those used in EasyWheels.

The software implementation presented a state-of-art software integration. The main toolchain to develop the software is using Windows Embedded CE, with C# programming language in upper level, and almost all the algorithms are developed with Matlab/Simulink. In the development process many kind of simulation is used. The main toolchain is supplemented with LabVIEW and NI Vision, to do the image processing.

Team members

The team consists of seven students from Aalto University. Three members are studying Mechanical Engineering (Kone) and four are studying Automation and Systems Technology (AS).