Design and construction of a low-cost mobile platform for developing and validating control and navigation algorithms

This article describes the design, construction and navigation of an autonomous vehicle addressing such important aspects as versatility, portability and low cost. In addition, the vehicle´s mechanical and electronic features allow rapid development and test of new control and navigation algorithms. In this context, all information processing is based on a personal computer using the parallel communication interface to require and export real-time data. In general, such an interface makes it possible to manage different kinds of actuators and transducers without additional electronic hardware