Robotino
Encyclopedia
Robotino is a mobile robot system for education, training and research made by Festo
Didactic.
Robotino is based on an omni directional drive assembly, which enables the system to roam freely. The robot is controlled by an industry-standard PC system, which is powerful enough to plan routes for fully autonomous driving. Via a WLAN-Link, Robotino can send all sensor readings to an external PC. In the other direction, control commands can be issued by the external PC. This way, control programs can run on the external PC or on Robotino directly. Mixed mode or shared control are also possible.
For users with little prior robotics knowledge, Robotino can be readily programmed in its “native” programming environment RobotinoView II. More experienced programmers may find it useful that the robot can also be programmed in C
, C++
, Java, .NET, Matlab
, Simulink
, Labview
and Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio.
The omnidirectional drive consists of three Mecanum wheels, all of which are individually controllable. These wheels are arranged at angles of 120°. Robotino has a bumper sensor around its circumference, infrared distance sensors, a color camera with VGA resolution, optical wheel encoders, power measurement for the entire system and the various motors, as well as a battery voltage monitor. Moreover, as optional additional sensors, Robotino can be equipped with a precise Laser scanner, a gyroscope, and an indoor positioning system (Northstar by evolution robotics). For signal input and output Robotino has several interfaces:
Power is supplied by two 12V/5Ah lead-acid batteries or optinally by two 12V/9Ah NiMH batteries.
Festo
Festo is a German industrial control and automation company based in Esslingen am Neckar, Germany. Festo is an engineering-driven company that sells pneumatic and electric transducers primarily to the automation industry.-History:...
Didactic.
Robotino is based on an omni directional drive assembly, which enables the system to roam freely. The robot is controlled by an industry-standard PC system, which is powerful enough to plan routes for fully autonomous driving. Via a WLAN-Link, Robotino can send all sensor readings to an external PC. In the other direction, control commands can be issued by the external PC. This way, control programs can run on the external PC or on Robotino directly. Mixed mode or shared control are also possible.
For users with little prior robotics knowledge, Robotino can be readily programmed in its “native” programming environment RobotinoView II. More experienced programmers may find it useful that the robot can also be programmed in C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
, C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
, Java, .NET, Matlab
MATLAB
MATLAB is a numerical computing environment and fourth-generation programming language. Developed by MathWorks, MATLAB allows matrix manipulations, plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms, creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs written in other languages,...
, Simulink
Simulink
Simulink, developed by MathWorks, is a commercial tool for modeling, simulating and analyzing multidomain dynamic systems. Its primary interface is a graphical block diagramming tool and a customizable set of block libraries. It offers tight integration with the rest of the MATLAB environment and...
, Labview
LabVIEW
LabVIEW is a system design platform and development environment for a visual programming language from National Instruments. LabVIEW provides engineers and scientists with the tools needed to create and deploy measurement and control systems.The graphical language is named "G"...
and Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio.
The omnidirectional drive consists of three Mecanum wheels, all of which are individually controllable. These wheels are arranged at angles of 120°. Robotino has a bumper sensor around its circumference, infrared distance sensors, a color camera with VGA resolution, optical wheel encoders, power measurement for the entire system and the various motors, as well as a battery voltage monitor. Moreover, as optional additional sensors, Robotino can be equipped with a precise Laser scanner, a gyroscope, and an indoor positioning system (Northstar by evolution robotics). For signal input and output Robotino has several interfaces:
- USB
- Ethernet
- 8 digital and 8 analog inputs
- 8 digital outputs
- additional motor output for driving high loads
- additional encoder input
Power is supplied by two 12V/5Ah lead-acid batteries or optinally by two 12V/9Ah NiMH batteries.