Datasheet

4. FROG Robot Electronics
Several electronic boards have been designed and added to the FROG hardware. The following
subchapters show and describe the boards created for the project.
The following electronic systems have been included on the FROG robot:
• Motor Controller Board - this board makes the movement of the robot possible. By the use
of one microcontroller that communicates with the Navigation Computer and sends
commands to two PI controllers that control two high power H-Bridges, it is possible to control
the high power motors installed on the platform.
• Sensor&Charger Board - This board is divided into 3 different boards:
• Sensor&Management Board - that communicates with the Navigation Computer
and controls all the other boards that compose the Sensor&Charger Board;
• Power Switch Board - that allows the robot to connect, disconnect and charge the
auxiliary batteries;
• Charger Board - is used to charge the batteries.
• Sonar Board - allows the use of sonars in the robot. By sending sonic pulses and by
capturing the obstacles’ echoes it is possible to detect and measure the distance between the
robot and the near obstacles.
• Interaction Board - allows the Interaction Computer to control the 3DOF antenna with the
laser pointer, enable or disable the laser pointer and finally control the LED lights around the
robot eyes;
• Wireless Joystick Controller - The wireless joystick controller was an add-on introduced to
be able to move the robot from one place to another without having to send direct commands
to the Navigation Computer. It is also one important safety measure that allows the robot to
be moved or stopped in case of danger.
• Charger Docking station - This is an external device that facilitates the autonomous docking
of the robot and the charge of the batteries without human intervention.
4.1. Motor Controller Board
The Motor Controller Board manages the robot locomotion. The Master Motor Controller uses a
PIC18F6527 microcontroller to control and manage all the communication between the high-level
robot Navigation Computer and the Slave PI Motor Controllers. The Slave PI Motor Controller uses a
PIC18F2431 microcontroller to provide all of the necessary control signals to the motor drivers. The
overall architecture of the Motor Controller Board is depicted in Figure 6.
The Master Motor Controller will:
• Run low-level control loops to check for critical changes in the motor system that can affect
the robot operation.
• Provide a I2C bus Observer that checks the information received from the I2C Slave devices
to understand faults in the communication or on the devices.
• Check the good function of each Slave PI Motor Controller by changing status information
between them.
• Control the motor and drivers’ temperature and control the power of fan devices to cool them.
FROG – FP7 STREP nr. 288235
Deliverable: D1.4 – Platform User and Developer Manual 16