System-Level Design and Outdoor Validation of a Solar-Powered Mobile Robot for Autonomous Environmental Monitoring

Halar Mustafa; Sadiq Ur Rehman; Muhammad Ahsan Shaikh

doi:10.36561/ING.30.11

Authors

Halar Mustafa Hamdard University, Pakistán https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7021-5010
Sadiq Ur Rehman Iqra University, Pakistán https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6308-450X
Muhammad Ahsan Shaikh Hamdard University, Pakistán https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2408-5689

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36561/ING.30.11

Keywords:

Solar-powered robots, Terrain-adaptive locomotion, Energy harvesting, Autonomous mobile robots, Off-grid monitoring

Abstract

The need to explore and use mobile robots outside is rising, mainly in terms of monitoring the environment and conducting inspections outside grid resources, where energy autonomy, terrain variability, and communication are essential. The purpose of this paper is to propose an innovative solar-powered mobile robot that integrates solar energy harvesting, four-wheel drive, two channels of wireless communication, and passive thermal management. The majority of previous works emphasized and focused on single components and experimental investigations, while this paper instead focuses on experience with practical implementations of these technologies outside, thereby gaining experience with similar robots outside, leading to observations on energy efficiency, movement, control, and communication, with possible implications for improving the next generation of robots outside. The experiment outside using various terrain types of grass, gravel, and earth successfully proved the positive energy balance of the robot, easy energy-efficient motion, good wireless control, and good wireless video streaming with little delay.

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