The Bearcat Cub V

Presented June 9, 2012 By William Hilton and Nicholas Vuotto

Outline • Our Team • Introduction to the Cub • Sensors • Last year’s performance • Design enhancements – Wireless E-stop – Wired E-stop – Additional enhancements • Lane Detection • Obstacle Avoidance • Conclusions

Our Team • University of Cincinnati • Participated all 20 years of IGVC • Currently all undergraduates

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Introduction to the Bearcat Cub • Incremental evolution of last year’s vehicle • Two deep cycle marine batteries for power • Segway wheels and gearboxes for motion • Sensors mounted on mast for intelligence • Dell laptop to control it all

Sensors • SICK Lidar • Bumblebee stereovision • Two Sony camcorders • Novatel GPS • HMR Compass • Wheel encoders

Last Year’s Performance • We qualified!

• 1 st run: software crashed • 2 nd run: E-stop demonstration caused software crash & full reboot • Fuses in inverter blew preventing further attempts Lesson learned:

more robustness!

Wireless E-stop Remote Kill Switch with 2.5x factor of safety!

250 feet

Wired E-stop New, schematically simpler system.

Easier to reset & doesn’t crash code.

Additions Since Report Since the written report was submitted, the following changes have been made: • Foam safety bumper • Upgraded safety light from parallel port to USB • Added 100A circuit breaker • And central fuse box • Code stability improvements

Lane Detection • HSV thresholding for color detection • Hough transform to find best line fit

Obstacle Detection • Uses LIDAR and stereovision • Obstacles create virtual repelling forces • Target creates virtual attractive force • Heading determined by summing the forces

Conclusions • The same software algorithms as last year: – but better tested!

• Upgrades to the electrical system and the frame to be: – More reliable – Safer • Competition, here we come!

Thanks to • Our mentor, Professor Humpert • University of Cincinnati Center for Robotics Research • IGVC Committee Questions?