System Integration, Localization and Control Implementation for an Autonomous Mobile Service Robot

Autonomous mobile robots are a technology extensively used in many different industrial and home applications. The ability to move towards a desired location without human intervention is one of their fundamental features as well as the final goal of this thesis work. The project is part of a larger one carried out by InnoTech System L.L.C. together with the California State University, Los Angeles. The development of this service robot has different purposes such as escorting people in airports and hospitals as well as food delivery in university campuses. After a theoretical introduction on the autonomous mobile robots and the background material, the document focuses on the main topics of the work: the system integration between different robot components (using I2C and UART communications), the LIDAR localization using Scan Matching and AMCL algorithms and the path planning using the A* search algorithm, implemented with a path tracking and a control logic in order to reach a goal position on a mapped environment. The thesis concludes with the description of the robot hardware structure, of the test phase and of the obtained results.