Virtual simulator with mobile robot rapid prototyping for navigation systems

This paper presents the virtual environment implementation for project simulation and conception of supervision and control systems for mobile robots, that are capable of operate and adapting in different environments and conditions. The purpose of this virtual system is to facilitate the development of embedded architecture systems, emphasizing the implementation of tools that allow the simulation of the kinematic conditions, dynamic and control, with real time monitoring of all important system points. For this, an open control architecture is proposal, integrating the two main techniques of robotic control implementation in the hardware level: systems microprocessors and reconfigurable hardware devices. The implemented simulator system is composed of a trajectory generating module, a kinematic and dynamic simulator module, and an analysis module of results and errors. All the kinematic and dynamic results obtained during the simulation can be evaluated and visualized in graphs and table formats in the results analysis module, allowing the improvement of the system, minimizing the errors with the necessary adjustments and optimization. For controller implementation in the embedded system, it uses the rapid prototyping which is the technology that allows in set, with the virtual simulation environment, the development of a controller project for mobile robots. The validation and tests had been accomplished with nonholonomic mobile robot models with differential transmission.