Characterizing Energy Usage of a Commercially Available Ground Robot: Method and Results. Issue 3 (21st March 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Broderick, John A.; Tilbury, Dawn M.; Atkins, Ella M.
• Is Part Of: Journal of field robotics. Volume 31:Issue 3(2014:May/Jun.)
• Page Start: 441
• Page End: 454
• Publication Date: 2014-03-21
• Subjects: Robots, Industrial -- Periodicals; Automatic control -- Periodicals; 629.892
• DOI: 10.1002/rob.21507
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1556-4959

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Energy usage by mobile robots is becoming a larger concern as autonomous systems increase mission durations. Understanding and characterizing energy usage is key to reliable mission operation. This paper presents a methodology for characterizing energy usage of a ground robot traveling at a constant speed applicable to both open and "black box" (proprietary) platforms. To address testing area limitations, we introduce a "rounded box" path to approximate straight line travel. For a case study, this methodology was applied to an iRobot Packbot on grass and asphalt surfaces. Our results show a decrease in electrical energy used with increasing speed for soft grass and constant energy usage on asphalt. For both surfaces, a similar electrical‐to‐mechanical efficiency curve is obtained.</p> </abstract>