The following two videos demonstrate a small but powerful rover that I am building, using four brushless DC hub motors. The intention is to create an unmanned ground vehicle which is able to carry a wide range of payloads and autonomously drive to a destination to deliver items, survey an area, or launch other systems such as a UAV.

In order to provide more sensor data to allow the rover to understand its environment, a camera and a Livox industrial grade lidar are being trialled. These are able to give a 3D view in front of the rover, for navigation or data collection.

Although the rover works well off-road and most of the inernal electronics are mounted to a plate separated from the main frame using vibration dampers, the original tyres are solid which is not ideal. Larger tyres with innertubes are being tested, to hopefully further reduce internal vibrations.

In addition to the fixed cameras, a small FPV camera has been added, mounted to a custom motorised mount with a slip ring. This allows it to spin continously without gettting tangled up or losing video, which is useful for keeping track of objects without needing to constantly turn the rover to face them.

more to come!