Project Title: Design of an Intelligent Power Charging Station for the Jumanji Rover
The Foundation is looking for a proactive and dynamic young candidate with good organizational and relational skills and an inclination for teamwork, strongly motivated to work on innovative projects featuring strong technological components.
We can offer an important training opportunity to experiment with using robotics as autonomous crop-field monitoring systems, which is a cost-effective solution for acquiring different images (e.g., RGB and infrared). Furthermore, the onboard autonomous intelligence helps optimize the robotic sensing activity by deciding the navigation paths based on external recommendations. However, a generic and cost-effective robotic solution autonomously navigating a rugged outdoor environment is still an open issue. Given these challenges, the OpenIoT research group proposes to develop a ROS-based rover, based on existing open-source projects, to navigate and acquire images using a camera mounted on a 4 DoF robotic arm.
General Objective Autonomous robots as mobile field sensing systems may represent a cost-effective solution to acquire different time-series data in agricultural use-cases, enhancing current Internet of Things (IoT) deployments. However, several issues need to be solved, including the ability of the robot to autonomously navigate outdoors in rugged settings and take advantage of IoT sensors to optimize the navigation paths. In addition, one intriguing challenge is the capacity of the robot to return to a charging station when the energy levels are below those required for a given task. Given these challenges, the OpenIoT research group opted for a ROS-based, open-source rover to be applied in the agricultural sector as a research and development platform (codename: Jumanji). Therefore, the goal is to develop a prototype charging station for the open-source rover that provides smart capabilities using IoT sensors and basic computer vision.
Activities to be performed: State of the art analysis of autonomous location for robots using ROSState of the art DIY charging stations for mobile Robots with embedded sensors.Integration/adaptation and open source libraries for wheeled vehicle navigation.Building and evaluating prototypes for the charging station.Evaluation and testing in real robots.Expected skills: Knowledge of basic concepts of robotics and computer vision in ROSKnowledge of embedded HW/SW platforms (e.g., Arduino, STM32, RPI)Knowledge of electronics, in particular batteries and chargers.Experience with distributed version control systems (git).Experience in Linux environment (shell scripting, package installation).Experience in programming for embedded platforms (Python, C, or C++).Experience building DIY sensor and actuator prototypes.Motivation in the development of research activities.We offer: Curricular internship (no allowance);3-6 months, depending on the candidate's needs and preparation;Canteen;Support for the search for accommodation at the affiliated structures.All interested parties are requested to fill in the online form, clicking on "Apply online", and attach the required documents in Pdfs format:
Curriculum Vitae;Cover letter.Applications will be reviewed as they arrive. Preferred period: at the earliest possible.
For any information, contact Massimo Vecchio (******).
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