Motion Planning of Multi-docking System for Intelligent Mobile Robots

The article develops a multi-docking system with a mobile robot and three docking stations. The docking structure is designed with one active degree of freedom and two passive degrees of freedom. The controller of the power detection devices is HOLTEK microchip, and acquires measurement values of the real-time current and voltage of the mobile robot and the docking stations. The power detection devices contain three power detection systems and one power detection module. The power detection system is embedded in the docking station and monitors the real-time information for the charging process. The controller of the mobile robot receives these measurement values from the power detection module via RS232 interface. The article focuses on the searching process using multiple sensors and a laser range finder for the mobile robot. The laser range finder searches the landmark of each docking station, and guides the mobile robot moving to the assigned docking station. In the experimental results, the power of the mobile robot is under the threshold value. The mobile robot selects the free and nearest docking station according to the received information from each docking station via wireless RF interfaces. The laser range finder guides the mobile robot moving approach to the assigned docking station. The power of the mobile robot is enough to be detected by the power detection module. The docking station turns off the charging current, and trigs the mobile robot leaving the docking station via wireless RF interface.