top of page

Remote controlled Panzer Robot

The Panzer Robot is a track-based robot that can be operated remotely carrying a camera, a robotic arm, and a GPS sensor. The complete software system operates on an embedded Windows PC integrated onboard. The drive and servo motors onboard the robot is controlled through an Atmel microcontroller. Users can control the robot through a remote control application on a Windows laptop connected to Wi-Fi.

​

The Panzer Robot has a range of capabilities, including:

  1. Internet-based remote control.

  2. Live two-way streaming of video and audio between the robot and the remote control application.

  3. Adjustment of audio volume remotely.

  4. Control of the onboard pan/tilt camera from the distance.

  5. Remote controll of the robotic arm (consisting of 3 joints and a gripper).

  6. Remote shutdown of the robot.

  7. Remote monitoring of the robot's current GPS location and direction and visualization of its location on Google Maps.

  8. Remote selection and playback of onboard audio files.

  9. The project involves a total of 1879 lines of code, coded in C#.Net and C.

Robot Hardware Architecture

Mini computer with Windows 7:
  1. A server program is written in C#.Net, which receives commands over a WIFI network. Sends and receives audio and video signals.
  2. Several communication channels using several network ports.
Robot Arm:
  1. Four joints and gripper.
  2. Five servos.
Microcontroller board DVK90CAN1
  1. Includes AT90CAN128 microcontroller.
  2. Controls the speed of the left and right DC drive motors.
  3. Uses Pulse Wide Modulation (PWM) signal to control the motor speed.
  4. Receives speed control commands over the serial port from the mini computer.
DC Motor speed controller:
  1. Speed control signal using PWM.
  2. Two speed controllers.
Pololu servo controller:
  1. Can control 12 servos.
  2. Receives position command over USB from mini-computer.

Software Architecture

Robot Software Architecture:

  1. Audio module.

  2. Video module.

  3. Robotarm module.

  4. GPS Module.

  5. Motor & Camera servo module.

  6. Shutdown module.

  7. Audio file (music) module.

Client Software Architecture

  1. Audio module.

  2. Video module.

  3. Robotarm module.

  4. GPS Module.

  5. Motor & camera servo module.

  6. Shutdown module.

  7. Music module.

Programming Technique

  1. Robot server Console application in C#.Net.

  2. Client WPF application in C#.Net.

  3. Microcontroller module in C.

  4. Network programming using sockets (UDP & TCP).

  5. Joystick programming using SlimDX library.

  6. Video programming using Directshow library.

Future Extentions

  1. Autonomous navigation with driving several way points.

  2. Robot arm controlling using a joystick and extra camera on the robot arm grip.

  3. Automatic sending the power percentage and driving to the charging station automatically.

  4. Recognizing persons and objects using AI.

bottom of page