Work / Mobile robotics Hardware
Voyager
Mobile robot platform built from the ground up
Voyager is a custom differential-drive robot designed and built end to end. The enclosure was designed in SolidWorks and the robot assembled with custom sensor integration. It serves as a reusable base for testing navigation and perception ideas before they go onto client platforms.
Challenge
Off-the-shelf research bases are expensive and hard to modify. The goal was a platform whose every layer, from motor control to navigation, could be changed.
Approach
Compute is split in two tiers: a Raspberry Pi 5 runs ROS 2 and high-level autonomy, while an Arduino Portenta H7 handles real-time low-level motor control. A Xiaomi LDS LiDAR provides scans for mapping, fused with an IMU for more robust localisation. SLAM, Nav2 navigation and teleoperation were developed in Gazebo alongside the physical robot.
Result
A working hardware platform with autonomous navigation and teleoperation, mirrored one to one in simulation.
In brief
- Full custom build: chassis, enclosure, electronics, firmware and software
- Two-tier compute: Raspberry Pi 5 for autonomy, Portenta H7 for motor control
- LiDAR and IMU sensor fusion for SLAM
- Nav2 autonomous navigation and teleop, mirrored in Gazebo