A PIC microcontroller-based system for real-life interfacing of external peripherals with a mobile robot

摘要

The present article describes the development of a peripheral interface controller (PIC) microcontroller-based system for interfacing external add-on peripherals with a real mobile robot, for real life applications. This system serves as an important building block of a complete integrated vision-based mobile robot system, integrated indigenously in our laboratory. The system is composed of the KOALA mobile robot in conjunction with a personal computer (PC) and a two-camera-based vision system where the PIC microcontroller is used to drive servo motors, in intcrrupt-driven mode, to control additional degrees of freedom of the vision system. The performance of the developed system is tested by checking it under the control of several user-specified commands, issued from the PC end.