Solar Powered Robotic Vehicle for Optimal Battery Charging Using PIC Microcontroller

Abstract

This paper focuses on the design and construction of an optimization charging system for Li–Po batteries by means of tracked solar panels. Thus, the implementation of a complete energy management system applied to a robotic exploration vehicle is put forward. The proposed system was tested on the VANTER robotic platform — an autonomous unmanned exploration vehicle specialized in recognition. The interest of this robotic system lies in the design concept, based on a smart host microcontroller. On this basis, our proposal makes a twofold significant contribution. On the one hand, it presents the construction of a solar tracking mechanism aimed at increasing the rover’s power regardless of its mobility. On the other hand, it proposes an alternative design of power system performance based on a pack of two batteries. The aim is completing the process of charging a battery independently while the other battery provides all the energy consumed by the robotic vehicle.