HARDWARRE-SOFTWARE FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPMENT OF MODULAR MOBILE ROBOTS WITH HIERARCHICAL ARCHITECTURE

Abstract

In this paper, we consider the main problems associated with the need to integrate various robotic components into a single system while increasing the complexity of the navigation algo-rithms of mobile robots. The work aims to present a hierarchical modular architecture for reconfigurable mobile robots as a solution to the problems posed. In this architecture, a mobile robot is considered as a combination of modules, which in turn consist of simpler blocks - submodules. Each submodule includes a low-power microcontroller and is responsible only for the basic func-tions. A set of submodules forms a module - a transport platform, a robot leg, a manipulator, etc. Besides, one of the main objectives of the project is to provide a framework based on this architec-ture for rapid prototyping of robots from unified modules. The article describes the manufactured prototypes of the modules, briefly discusses the protocol of intermodular interaction of submodules connected by a CAN bus. The results of experiments on testing the protocol are presented and their analysis is given. The efficiency of the proposed solution limitations and a short plan of fur-ther actions for the implementation of the project are shown.