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added battery datasheet, more details in readme
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Alwaki committed Aug 25, 2024
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64 changes: 58 additions & 6 deletions README.md
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Expand Up @@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ A manual for the all terrain vehicle (ATRV) Pluto.


# Introduction
Pluto is a bright red all terrain vehicle, produced by iRobot in the early 2000s. While the chassis and lower level electronics remain much the same, a lot has been replaced or added to this robot. This manual aims to make it easier for future users to figure out the capabilities of Pluto, and to make use of it in their project.
Pluto is a bright red all terrain vehicle, produced by iRobot in the early 2000s (this is the Sr model, also called the ATRV-II). The company no longer offers support for this robot, which can make technical issues with the vehicle seem more daunting. While the chassis and lower level electronics remain similar to the old robot, a lot has been replaced or added to this robot. This manual aims to make it easier for future users to figure out the capabilities of Pluto, and to make use of it in their project.

The instructions and explanations in the following sections contain several locations, with directions such as "rear", "front", "left" and "right". To make clear the use of this language, we illustrate the following:

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -52,19 +52,47 @@ Manuals/specifications for these sensors are included in the folder named "datas
2 Pictures - sensor rig, GPS

## Computational Hardware
The robot
The robot has several different computer architectures on board. To collect data, the sensor rig has a separate Intel NUC, with x86 architecture. Pluto also has an older Intel NUC on the second level of the chassis, as well as an ARM based Nvidia Jetson AGX Orin. The documentation for these are included.

Note that at the time of writing, the Jetson is not currently utilized by Pluto. This is planned to change in the future.

Intel nucs, NVIDIA jetson

2 pictures - Intel NUC, Jetson
3 documentations (each nuc version, and jetson)

## Mechanical & Electrical Hardware
We use a wireless controller of the type "Logitech F710 Wireless Gamepad" to control the robot movement. The wireless reciever for this controller is connected to the Intel NUC on the second level of the robot chassis. To interact with the sensor rig, any type of bluetooth keyboard can be used.

There are four electrical DC Gearmotors in the vehicle, produced by Bison Gear & Engineering Corp. These motors are separately connected to each of the four wheels of the robot through toothed belts. As with most electric vehicles, this gives greater control opportunities, and Pluto is able to spin on location because of this. The motors each have the following electro-mechanical properties

- 0.25 Horsepower
- 24 Volt (DC)
- 10.78 Amps
- 168 RPM
- 9.8 N-m Torque
- 11:1 Gear ratio

The robot has recently had its batteries replaced (mid 2024). It currently runs with four Victron LiFePO4 batteries, which each are 12,8V 20Ah. These power the engines, the two computers and the GNSS on Pluto. The sensor rig uses a separate power source, a


Motors, battery, controllers

2 pictures - Motor & battery, controller & reciever
3 documentations - controller, motors, batteries

# Software
In general, software for sensors and actuation runs with Ubuntu 20.4, and ROS Noetic.

## Sensor Rig
The sensor rig has a few scripts to make collecting data easier. We include these scripts in the software section, in case these are needed. With a keyboard connected to the sensor rig NUC, operation then becomes very simple (see operation section).

## GNSS
The GNSS is separately interfaced with, using the Emlid Flow app (available for android and iOS) and wifi. This allows for the collection of data in a RINEX format, which is very useful for post-processing with any avaiable software on the market.

## Robot Platform
give link to miguels software

# Operation

## Charging Batteries
Expand All @@ -84,8 +112,32 @@ mention the emergency brakes


## Collecting Data
Discuss how to operate sensor rig to collect data

## Possible Errors
list possible problems in descending order of likeliness
-
### Sensor Rig
Ensure that the sensor rig battery is charged and turned on. To turn on this battery, press the button once, and then hold the button. After this, turn on the NUC (power button is available from underneath). A screen is available to view the output of the sensors, and ensure that the collection is going well. As the NUC turns on, ensure that a keyboard is connected. With a keyboard connected to the NUC in the sensor rig, you can now use the follwing shorthand commands:

- Press CTRL + 1 to start the ROS nodes for sensors.
- Press CTRL + 5 to start collecting sensor data in a rosbag.
- Press CTRL + 0 to stop collection, and turn off sensor nodes.

1 picture of screen with nodes on, so on

A word of advice is to collect some short data, and then inspect the data with the "rqt" command (needs a roscore running in a separate terminal). The bags are saved in a folder simply named "bags". You can inspect the bag and see that all the data is coming in as expected.

1 picture of data collected in rqt

### GNSS



# FAQ

## I would like to use Pluto for a project, who do I speak to?


## Why is the robot not moving?
Here are the most likely reasons for why the robot is not moving, and what to do

- Ensure that BOTH the real brake and virtual brakes are turned off. See "Operation/Getting It Moving".
- Ensure that you have not accidentally pressed "mode" on the handheld controller.
-
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