A Novel GUI Design for Comparison of ROS-Based Mobile Robot Local Planners
Bilal Gürevin, Furkan GÜLTÜRK, Muhammed Yıldız, İhsan Pehli̇van, Trung Thành Nguyễn, Fatih Çalışkan, Barış Boru, Mustafa Zahid Yıldız · IEEE Access · 2023
Determining the stations of the autonomous mobile robot (AMR) in the factory environment is important in terms of optimizing the system for the shipment of products coming out of the production lines. In this context, studies such as navigating the AMR between stations, docking to the station, and assigning autonomous tasks to other stations are costly in terms of time and energy consumption. In addition, flexible working opportunities are not always available according to environmental conditions. This situation creates the need for an interface where the entire work area can be observed and AMRs can be controlled from a single center in the installation of the system in the field. Although there are interface studies for AMR use, they are basically based on AMR control. In this study, an interface that can be used in AMR control and monitoring was designed. With this interface; It is thought to prevent costly situations such as determining the stations, calculating the time spent in the transportation of products between stations, determining the movement route. The interface developed in this context was used in an application where ROS-based path planning algorithms were compared. A new AMR was designed instead of Turtlebot, and Gazebo and Rviz programs were used. The recording and visualization of the stations in the virtual environment were realized with the interface. A total of six different stations was identified, including the starting point. With three different local planners separately, the AMR was given the task of acting autonomously at each station. Thanks to the developed interface, the distance and time required to reach each station were calculated by performing autonomous movement to the desired points. Thanks to the developed interface, the total distance and time covered were shown in the tables and a comparison of ROS-based path planning algorithms was made.