Developing and testing software components for robots often requires significant effort. Therefore, we have adopted the strategy of assembling components on a testbed to test motors, sensors, and other parts directly at the desk along with the software.
Our testbed showcases a configuration of a typical lawn mower robot with 3 motors, the central owlController (a large board), and an additional sensor and IO board. We utilize our proven owlDrive BL-Controllers for controlling the brushless motors. The central control board, onto which a Raspberry Pi is attached, facilitates hardware-proximate communication. It controls external modules via the CAN bus and can provide additional sensors through I²C connectors. Furthermore, it offers digital IO pins and analog inputs to query switches for bumpers and similar functions. A dedicated analog input is designed for a rain sensor. If the existing IO ports are insufficient, additional IO modules can be connected via the CAN bus, such as the blue module at the top edge, which also features 2 relays. Through this modular networking, up to 60 modules can be connected to control, for example, 4 wheel drives or tools with multiple motors.
With the owlRobotics Kit, we are capable of configuring and controlling any hardware requirement effortlessly. This base control can then be interfaced with the Robot Operating System (ROS) running on the attached Raspberry Pi and utilized with a standardized ROS application.