Pathfinder

The project I am presently working on is inspired to the robot sent to Mars in 1997.

Thanks to its six independent wheels, Mars-Pathfinder managed to move around and explore the area around the landing site.

It was remote controlled from earth and was able to send back a huge number of pictures of the Martian landscape together with data from a number of rocks that it analysed.

The robot that I want to build should have the following characteristics:

capable of moving on rough surfaces

remote controlled from very far distance through the GSM network

fitted with two video cameras, mounted side by side in order to acquire and send stereo images

provided with solar panels that assure an autonomous power supply

The main modules of the robot are:

8 bit microcontroller Philips P87C52

GSM device mod. Falcom A1 by Funkanlagen Leipoldt OHG

2 digital black & white video cameras, 160x120 pixels by Spectronix

12 V lead battery

solar panel 16V, 10W

4 electric motors 12 V DC

electronics that manages the power (loading the battery and controlling the motors)

The robot would be used as follows:

it is put in a remote location to be explored. The location should be covered by the GSM network and be an open space, so that solar panel can be exposed to the sun.

The operator from the headquarter can link with the pathfinder through a PC connected via modem to the telephone netwotk.

On the PC screen he can receive and visualise the images of the landscape seen by the Pathfinder.

Since they are stereo images, he can evaluate distance and position of the objects that are shown, with respect to the robot.

Finally the operator can decide to let the robot move, in order to reach a new site. Therefore he sets the parameters for stearing and forward moving and transmits them to the robot.

When the battery is too low, the robot sends a warning signal to the operator who therefore interrupts the link.

The robot goes then in an idle state while the solar panel reloads the battery for the next connection.