The Robot Platform

Kurt3D (Fig. 1, top left) is a mobile robot platform with a size of 45 cm (length) $\times$ 33 cm (width) $\times$ 26 cm (height) and a weight of 15.6 kg. Equipped with the 3D laser range finder the height increases to 47 cm and the weight increases to 22.6 kg.¹ Kurt3D's maximum velocity is 5.2 m/s (autonomously controlled 4.0 m/s). Two 90W motors are used to power the 6 wheels, whereas the front and rear wheels have no tread pattern to enhance rotating. Kurt3D operates for about 4 hours with one battery (28 NiMH cells, capacity: 4500 mAh) charge. The core of the robot is a Pentium-III-600 MHz with 384 MB RAM. An embedded 16-Bit CMOS microcontroller is used to control the motor.