Conact information
University: KU Leuven
Faculty: Bioscience engineering
Department: MeBioS
Adres: Kasteelpark Arenberg 30
B-3001 Heverlee
Belgium
Tel. +32 16 321436
Supervisors:
Prof. Wouter Saeys (wouter.saeys@kuleuven.be)
Dr. Bart Lenaerts (bart.lenaerts@kuleuven.be)
Ing. Soner Akpinar (soner.akpinar@kuleuven.be)
Team members:
Thomas Bangels (thomas.bangels@student.kuleuven.be); (thomasbangels_94@hotmail.com)
Alexander Damen (alexander.damen@student.kuleuven.be); (alexanderdamen40014@gmail.com)
Stijn Leman (stijn.leman@student.kuleuven.be)
Steven Ongenae (steven.ongenae@student.kuleuven.be)
Yvenn Sermeus (yvenn.sermeus@student.kuleuven.be)
Project information
Title: Grassbot
Abstract:
There is an increasing trend in free-range farms and automatisation. The goal of this project was to program a tractor which could design a path that covers the field and avoid static and dynamic objects while driving it. A GPS was used to keep track of the position of the vehicle. On top of the GPS, a kalman filter was implemented. The kalman filter corrects error in the GPS data and can keep track of the position for 3 seconds if the GPS signal is lost. To make sure the vehicle does not collide with cows of trees, a LIDAR sensor is fitted on the front of the vehicle. When an object is detected, a path around it is made using an A-star algorithm. Steering angle was calculated with a PI-controller. The speed can be manually adjusted on the screen. All this high-level controlling is done in LabVIEW. This software was chosen for its organized lay-out and many predefined algorithms. LabVIEW sends the speed and steering angle as an UDP package to an Arduino, which controls the low-level. It drives a linear actuator for gas control and a hydrostat to regulate the steering. The combination of all systems resulted in a full autonomous vehicle, the grassbot. In the future, we consider to attach all kind of modules to the grassbot. Like for instance a feature to map the grass-quality of the field or detect and eliminate weeds. This way, many field-operations could be done autonomous on the field, which is a great opportunity for every farmer.
Poster:
Movies:
Field tests: https://youtu.be/7jmARY15cOo
Controlling the actuators: https://youtu.be/Yc3qUeBSyVM
Additonal files:
Please check the full report in attachment for further information. The labVIEW VI's and a presentation are attached as well.