Laser-Pointer Guidance System for Small Unmanned Ground Vehicle in Disaster Area
Kenichi Tokuda, Wataru Fukuyama · Journal of Physics Conference Series · 2018
We are developing a small unmanned ground vehicle to support rescue missions by exploring sediment-related disaster areas. To simplify the vehicle operation, we employ a laser pointer as guidance system. In this paper, we describe a method to detect the laser-pointer spot under sunlight and a fuzzy learning method for guiding the vehicle towards the corresponding target position. To verify the spot detection, we performed experiments in laboratory emulating sunlight conditions, whereas to validate the guidance method, we developed a fuzzy control system whose input-variable ranges were determined from preliminary experiments and whose outputs include turning, backward, and forward motions of the vehicle. Likewise, experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed guidance method.