Development of FPGA-based system for control of an Unmanned Ground Vehicle with 5-DOF robotic arm

Abstract

This paper discusses the development of a customizable FPGA based system for implementing control algorithms on an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) and its 5 Degree of Freedom (DOF) manipulator. The compact RIO-9012 is used as a controller which is a reconfigurable embedded control and acquisition system using LabVIEW as the programming platform. The developed system enables the control of UGV and its manipulator using a remote joystick controller via Wi-Fi communication. Apart from Joystick, the system can also be controlled optionally using a keyboard. Accuracy of Joystick control has been enhanced by using point to point mapping technique. A user friendly GUI has been developed to view live video feedback obtained from the onboard cameras to control the UGV accordingly. Different features of UGV like path tracker (tracks its path on Google Maps), variable speed modes, battery indicator, camera switch and selector etc. are also managed in the GUI. The system has been developed so that, in future, it can easily be extended to a fully autonomous system.