Technologies: Platform
BaseBot™
GeckoSystems has a standard set of fundamental requirements for what it considers to be necessary technology for a utilitarian MSR called BaseBot™ Technology. This technology is a collection of minimum needed mechanical, electronic hardware, and software components required for a utilitarian MSR.
Power is one of the requirements for a BaseBot™ compatible robot platform. The power available must be sufficient to drive the locomotion system, sensors, hardware, and software onboard the platform. A minimum of eight hours battery life of typical operation is necessary to meet the power requirements of the BaseBot™ standard.
The mechanical requirement of a BaseBot™ encompasses the drive system and physical build specifications. The drive system must be capable of allowing the robot to traverse a 1.5 inch vertical height. A 100 pound payload capacity is needed to support the typical onboard weight and expandability of the platform.
Sensory requirements are another piece of the BaseBot™ Technology standard. The sensory requirements are also needed to support the navigational requirements. The type and number of sensors varies according to the operation environment of the MSR. One sensor system is usually not sufficient for the functional requirements of the navigational software and therefore would not meet the BaseBot™ standard.
Navigation software is the final component of a BaseBot™ enabled mobile service robot. The navigation software must be able to successfully navigate using the sensory and locomotion system of the platform. Successful navigation includes but is not limited to avoiding dynamic objects in the environment. Additionally, the navigation software must be capable of navigating crowded, moving areas of people and not harm an individual.
GeckoSPIO™
The GeckoSPIO™ provides the interface for for all the higher-level software to the low-level/physical systems of the MSR. This includes motor control, power control and sensor systems. The GeckoSPIO™ is a robust robot control board with hundreds of digital IO pins, dozens of Analog-to-Digital pins and a dozen serial interfaces. It is also readily expandable and extensible with a logical hierarchal architecture and a pair of standard Ethernet ports as the interface to the high-level systems. The seven on board processors and available connections to other processors give the GeckoSPIO the computing power and through-put to read and send the data from hundreds of sensors a second, perform a certain level of sensor fusion tasks and precise motor control.
GeckoMotorController™
The GeckoMotorController™ is written in the software programming language known as "C," uses quadrature encoded PWM and runs one of the two CPUs that are subsystems on the GeckoSPIO™.
The seventh generation GeckoMotorController™ uses a proprietary "self adaptive" constant energy paradigm for extraordinarily smooth acceleration and de-acceleration of their mobile service robots. A 'herky jerky' mobile robot platform can be very distracting when proximate to people and other living creatures.
The GeckoMotorController™ uses feedback from optical encoders to control wheel velocity. The new GeckoMC leverages industry standard PID algorithms combined with novel subsumption techniques to allow for smooth and more precise control of the CareBot's™ locomotion system. Modifications of the standard PID algorithm paradigms were necessary to allow for smooth acceleration and deceleration of the CareBot™ platform (to eliminate lurching), to improve battery life, and to enable the CareBot™ to move in a straight line under varying conditions.
The new GeckoMC enables finer control of the wheel velocities. This improvement is most evident at the higher speeds due to the recent advancements resulting from the integration of the recently developed GeckoImager(TM) sensor system. Top speed, turn entry and exit, and sudden stops are all improved under the new GeckoMC.
GeckoOrient™
GeckoOrient™, running on the GeckoSPIO™, is a proprietary subsumptive paradigm that automatically and intelligently merges sensor data from odometry (dead reckoning), a solid state compass and accelerometer based gyroscopes (IMU's) for enhanced orientation accuracy while errand running, patrolling, or following a designated person.
The newly improved GeckoOrient 2.0 further leverages the distinct advantages of multiple unique sensors in order to produce accurate information regarding robot orientation at a much lower cost than a single sensor of comparable performance. Testing has shown the data update rates and accuracy from GeckoOrient™ have maintained or improved performance while significantly reducing costs. The primary enabler for these cost saving improvements is the robust and flexible nature of the GeckoSPIO™, specifically its support of a wide variety of communications protocols.
GeckoZap™
GeckoZap™ is a debugging, testing, and calibration utility used for operating the Mobile Service Robot from GeckoSystems, or any other hardware/firmware platform compliant with our standards. This application is a user-interface that allows the developer to manually send the mobile robot commands which would normally be sent automatically by GeckoNav™. The user can test functionality of the mobile robot by sending/retrieving data and commanding the Mobile Service Robot's movements. For example, GeckoZap™ makes the packet assembly and serial transmission transparent to the user by providing a "point-and-click" interface for these operations.