Embedded computer control system for service mobile robots

This paper describes design concept of an embedded computer system for service mobile robots. The system is made modular so there are several different modules that are used to control different subsystems of the robot. There are power management module, sonar management module with twelve ultrasonic sensors, motor control module and module for charging batteries which is part of a docking station. The design of all modules is based on PIC 16F midrange microcontroller family and they are connected via I²C system bus. To connect modules to the main computer, another module is developed, which connects the RS232 port of the main computer to I²C system bus. The main computer is master device on this bus and the modules are slave devices. For testing purposes the main computer is ordinary notebook and the simple test application is developed so the whole system can be controlled with it. Simple protocol is designed for communication and its format is also described in this paper.