ZapataBot - An Autonomous Robotic ATV

Phase 1


UNC Charlotte is working on an autonomous All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) that can sense its environment and traverse most any terrain. It will follow a pre-defined path pulling a trailer that has sensing equipment. Phase 1 is to build the mechanical and electrical systems to allow someone to drive the vehicle like an RC car (later we will replace the RC controller with computer control). It is an off-the-shelf Honda ATV. We collected Video, LIDAR and GPS data as well which we will integrate later.

As you can see from the video, it works!

  Autonomous Robotic ATV - Phase 1 - "RC vehicle" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ql91f_JgjDs)

  Autonomous Robotic ATV - Phase 1 - "RC vehicle" (hi def) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja3ND8Pk_0M)

Other Photos:

           

 

Phase 2

The next phase will be to add computer control of the vehicle and have it drive autonomously based on a set of stored GPS waypoints.

 

Phase 3

Phase 3 is to have the vehicle run autonomously and avoid obstacles using LIDAR and other sensors.

 

Phase 4

Phase 4 is to have the vehicle autonomously traverse a specific bounded area and map its environment.
 

Phase 5

In phase 5 the vehicle will follow a pre-defined path pulling a trailer that has sensing equipment.

This project is funded by Zapata Engineering.

For more information contact:
James Conrad
UNCC email:  jmconrad@uncc.edu
Phone: 704-687-8597, Fax: 704-687-5588
Snail Mail:  UNC Charlotte, ECE Department, EPIC 2254, 9201 University City Boulevard, Charlotte, NC 28223-0001



This page maintained by James Conrad - last modified 2015-05-29.
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