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CajunBot: Architecture and algorithms
Author(s) -
Lakhotia Arun,
Golconda Suresh,
Maida Anthony,
Mejia Pablo,
Puntambeker Amit,
Seetharaman Guna,
Wilson Scott
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of field robotics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.152
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1556-4967
pISSN - 1556-4959
DOI - 10.1002/rob.20129
Subject(s) - computer science , visibility , pentium , debugging , computation , chassis , obstacle avoidance , unmanned ground vehicle , middleware (distributed applications) , algorithm , embedded system , real time computing , simulation , engineering , robot , artificial intelligence , distributed computing , mobile robot , parallel computing , operating system , aerospace engineering , physics , optics
CajunBot, an autonomous ground vehicle and a finalist in the 2005 DARPA Grand Challenge, is built on the chassis of MAX IV, a six‐wheeled all‐terrain vehicle (ATV). Transformation of the ATV to an autonomous ground vehicle required adding drive‐by‐wire control, lidar sensors, an inertial navigation system (INS), and a computing system. Significant innovations in the core computational algorithms include an obstacle detection algorithm that takes advantage of shocks and bumps to improve visibility; a path planning algorithm that takes into account the vehicle's maneuverability limits to generate paths that are navigable at high speed; efficient data structures and algorithms that require just a single Intel Pentium 4 HT 3.2 GHz machine to handle all computations and a middleware layer that transparently distributes the computation to multiple machines, if desired. In addition, CajunBot also features support technologies, such as a simulator, playback of logged data, and live visualization on off‐board computers to aid in development, testing, and debugging. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.