Development of a Simple Autonomous Vehicle for Greenhouse Works

온실용 간이 자율주행 작업차의 개발

This study was conducted to developed to develop a simple battery-powered autonomous vehicle for greenhouse works. A steering method using speed difference of two independent driving motors was adopted. DC motor driving circuit, speed control circuit and controller using one-chip microcomputer were constructed. The inputs of controller are rolling of the vehicle and current speed of driving motors. Using these signals, automatic guidance system along furrow was developed. A computer simulation program by the kenematic analysis was developed to find out optimal control algorithm. The results of this study are as follows. 1. Automatic guidance system along the furrow that adopted two independent driving motors and rolling of vehicle was developed. 2. The results of simulation showed that PID control was adequate to automatic guidance system along furrow. 3. Two commercial 12V battery serially connected were able to drive the vehicle on the soil ground for five hours in continuous operation and for four hours in intermittent operation without recharging the battery. 4. The speed range was 0-0.7m/s and the rolling of vehicle could be controlled within $pm5^{\circ}$ range. 5. From a series of tests, developed vehicle was found to be a useful tool for greenhouse works.