Ravon
RAVON (Robust Autonomous Vehicle for Off-road Navigation) is a robot being developed at the Robotics Research Lab at University of Kaiserslautern, Germany. The vehicle is used as a testbed to investigate behaviour-based strategies on motion adaptation, localization and navigation in rough outdoor terrain. The basis vehicle was produced by Robosoft.
Objective
Today the world is facing an increasing frequency of natural disasters, large-scale accidents and terrorism. Fire infernos, hurricanes, air crashes and attacks on chemical or nuclear plants are only a few possible scenarios. Unmanned vehicles could patrol frontiers, guard industrial estates, take routine measurements in predefined areas, fulfill reconnaissance tasks in hostile environments or assist in clearance duties in cases of severe accidents or natural disasters.
To meet future demands in autonomous outdoor robotics the Robot Research Laboratory has formulated the development of an entirely autonomous vehicle for rough and vegetated terrain as long-term goal.
The reproducible navigation along a predefined track as well as the autonomous exploration and mapping of unknown environments have been defined as crucial target capabilities.
Technical specifications
- Length: 2.35 m
- Width: 1.4 m
- Height: 1.2 m
- Weight: 750 kg
- Power Supply: 8 spiral cell batteries (12 V, 55 Ah each)
- Operation Time: about 4 hours
- Drive: 4WD with four independent electric motors
- Steering: front and rear wheel steering via linear motors
- Velocity: 10 km/h max.
- Controller: 2 Motorola 56F803 DSPs
- Computer: 4 On-board PCs
- Floor Clearance: 0.3 m
- Max. Slope: 100% (at 7 km/h)