Development and Construction of The SUNGROVE
A Multi-purpose, Energy Autonomous UGV
Fall 2018 - Spring 2019
This Solar powered UNmanned GROund VEhicle - codenamed SUNGROVE - was designed to be a platform for operation in outdoor environments. The contribution lies in the ability of the proposed design to offer uninterrupted operation in terms of endurance, to facilitate educational and research applications that are otherwise challenging to perform with a typical UGV (that needs significant downtime for recharging).
The SUNGROVE was an exciting and interesting project, and was the first I took on as a member of the ADAMS Lab since beginning my career as a graduate student at The University at Buffalo, The State University of New York. Our team's conference paper was submitted to the ASME 2019 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE), where we presented our innovative design concept. The submitted conference paper is shown below.
The SUNGROVE is designed with a unique umbrella mechanism for exposing its solar panels, to increase the total surface area available for solar radiation harvesting. The design all of the electronics required for regular usage, including a computational component (a Jetson TX1) for SLAM, path planning, and sensor information processing. A theoretically more optimal design is proposed by optimizing the solar panel angle and link lengths to maximize the range of the system.
Project Requirements
-
Extensive MATLAB usage
-
Electronic and mechanical hardware assembly
-
Mathematics
-
Video editing
-
Teamwork
-
Excellent verbal and written communication skills
​
​
​