AGILEX Robotics Bunker Mini Robot User Manual

: June 9, 2024
: Agilex Robotics

Table of Contents

AGILEX Robotics Bunker Mini Robot
Safety Information
Introduction of BUNKER MINI
The Basics
Getting Started
Attention
Q&A
Product Dimensions
AGILE X
References
Read User Manual Online (PDF format)
Download This Manual (PDF format)

AGILEX Robotics Bunker Mini Robot

AGILEX-Robotics-Bunker-Mini-Robot-PRODUCT

This chapter contains important safety information that must be read and understood by any individual or organization before using the equipment when the robot is powered on for the first time. You can contact us at support@agilex.ai if you have any questions about usage. It is very important that all assembly instructions and guidelines in other chapters of this manual are followed and implemented. Particular attention should be paid to text associated with warning signs.

Safety Information

The information in this manual does not include the design, installation and operation of a complete robotic application, nor does it include any peripherals that may affect the safety of this complete system. The design and use of this complete system requires compliance with the safety requirements established in the standards and specifications of the country where the robot is installed. It is the responsibility of BUNKERMINI’s integrators and end customers to ensure compliance with relevant specifications and effective laws and regulations, so as to ensure that there are no major hazards in the complete robot application example. This includes but is not limited to the following:

Validity and Responsibility

Make a risk assessment of the complete robot system.
Link together the additional safety equipment for other machinery as defined by the risk assessment.
Confirm that the design and installation of the peripherals of the complete robot system, including software and hardware systems, are accurate.
This robot does not have relevant safety functions of a complete autonomous mobile robot, including but not limited to automatic anti-collision, anti-falling, biological approach warning, etc.
These functions require integrators and end customers to conduct safety assessments in accordance with relevant rspecifications and effective laws and regulations, so as to ensure that the developed robot does not have any major dangers and safety hazards in practical applications.
Gather all documents in the technical file: including the risk assessment and this manual.
Be aware of possible safety risks before operating and using the equipment.

Environment

When using it for the first time, please read this manual vehicle fully to understand the basic operation contents and operation specifications.
For remote operation, choose a relatively open area for use, and the vehicle itself does not have any automatic obstacle avoidance sensors.
Use in an ambient temperature of -10℃~45℃.
The waterproof and dustproof capability of the vehicle is IP67, and the test conditions are: (1) no flowing clean water, with a water depth of 1 meter; (2) the test time is 30 minutes.

Inspection

Make sure that each device has sufficient power.
Make sure there is no obvious abnormality in the vehicle.
Check that the remote control’s batteries are fully charged.
Make sure the emergency stop switch has been released when in use.

Operation

Ensure that the surrounding area is relatively empty during operation.
Remote control within sight distance.
When installing an external extension on BUNKER MINI, confirm the centroid position of the extension and make sure it is at the center of rotation.
Please charge in time when the device voltage is lower than 24V.
When the equipment is abnormal, please stop using it immediately to avoid secondary injury.
The maximum load of BUNKER MINI is 35KG. When in use, make sure the payload does not exceed 35KG.
When the equipment is abnormal, please contact the relevant technical personnel, and do not handle it without authorization.
Please use the equipment in an environment that meets the protection class requirements according to its IP protection class.
Do not push the vehicle directly.
When charging, make sure the ambient temperature is greater than 0°C.

Maintenance

Regularly check the tension of the crawler, and tighten the crawler every 100~150H of operation.
After every 200 hours of operation, it is necessary to check the fastening of bolts and nuts of various parts of the vehicle body, and tighten them immediately if they are loose.
In order to ensure the storage capacity of the battery, the battery should be stored with electricity, and it should be charged regularly when not in use for a long time.

Introduction of BUNKER MINI

BUNKER MINI is an all-round tracked chassis vehicle for industrial applications. It is featured with simple and sensitive operation, large development space, adaptability to development and application in various fields, IP67 dustproof and waterproof, and great grade ability, etc. It can be used for the development of special robots such as inspection and exploration, EOD rescue, special shooting, and special transport, and is a solution to robot movement.

Product List

Name	Quantity
BUNKER MINI robot body	x1
Battery charger (AC 220V)	x1
Aviation plug male（4Pin）	x1
FS remote control (optional)	x1
USB to RS232	x1
USB to CAN communication module	x1

Performance parameters

AGILEX-Robotics-Bunker-Mini-Robot-FIG-11

Required for development

BUNKER MINI is equipped with FS remote control from the factory, through which users can control the chassis of the BUNKER MINI mobile robot to complete the movement and rotation operations. Besides, BUNKER MINI is equipped with a CAN interface, through which users can conduct secondary development.

The Basics

This part will give a basic introduction to the BUNKER MINI mobile robot chassis, so that users and developers can have a basic understanding of BUNKER MINI chassis.

Electrical interface description

The rear electrical interface is shown in Figure 2.1, in which Q1 is the emergency stop switch, Q2 is the power switch, Q3 is the power display interaction, Q4 is the charging interface, and Q5 is the CAN and 24V power aviation interface.

The definition of the communication and power interface of Q5 is shown in Figure 2-2.

Pin No.

| Pin

Type

| Function and

Definition

|

Remarks

---|---|---|---

1

|

Power

|

VCC

| Positive power supply, voltage range 46~54v,

maximum current 10A

Remote control instructions

FS remote control is an optional accessory for BUNKER MINI products. Customers can choose it according to their actual needs, and can easily control BUNKER MINI universal robot chassis by using the remote control. In this product, we adopt the design of the left-hand accelerator. See Figure 2.3 for its definition and functions. The functions of the button are defined as: SWA and SWD are temporarily disabled. SWB is the control mode selection button, turning to the command control mode when pushed to the top, and the remote control mode when pushed to the middle. SWC is the lamp mode button, which is pushed to the top for the lights-normally-on mode, the middle for the lights- on mode when the vehicle is moving, and the bottom for the lights-normally-off mode. S1 is the accelerator button, which controls BUNKER MINI to move forward and backward; S2 controls the rotation, and POWER is the power button. Press and hold at the same time to turn on the remote control. It should be noted that SWA, SWB, SWC, and SWD need to be at the top when the remote control is turned on.

Control command and motion description

We establish the coordinate reference frame of the ground mobile vehicle according to the ISO 8855 standard as shown in Figure 2.4.

As shown in 2.4, the BUNKER MINI body is parallel to the X-axis of the established reference frame. In the remote control mode, the remote control joystick S1 moves in the positive direction of X when pushed forward, and moves in the negative direction of X when pushed backward. When S1 is pushed to the maximum value, the movement speed in the positive direction of X is the largest, and when pushed to the minimum value, the movement speed in the negative direction of the X direction is the largest. The remote control joystick S2 controls the rotation of the vehicle body left and right. When S2 is pushed to the left, the vehicle body rotates from the positive direction of the X axis to the positive direction of the Y axis. When S2 is pushed to the right, the vehicle body rotates from the positive direction of the X axis to the negative direction of the Y axis. When S2 is pushed to the left to the maximum value, the linear velocity of counterclockwise rotation is the largest, and when it is pushed to the right to the maximum value, the linear velocity of the clockwise rotation is the largest.

In the control command mode, the positive value of the linear velocity means moving in the positive direction of the X-axis, and the negative value of the linear velocity means moving in the negative direction of the X-axis. The positive value of the angular velocity means that the vehicle body moves from the positive direction of the X-axis to the positive direction of the Y-axis, and the negative value of the angular velocity means that the vehicle body moves from the positive direction of the X axis to the negative direction of the Y axis.

Getting Started

This part mainly introduces the basic operation and use of the BUNKER MINI platform, and introduces how to carry out the secondary development of the vehicle body through the external CAN port and the CAN bus protocol.

Use and operation

Check

Check the vehicle body condition. Check whether there is any obvious abnormality in the vehicle body; if so, please contact after-sales support;
Check the emergency stop switch status. Confirm that the Q1 emergency stop button at the rear is in a released state;
When using for the first time, confirm whether Q2 (power switch) in the rear electrical panel is pressed; if so, please press and release it, and it will be in a released state.

Power off

Press the power switch to cut off the power.

Start-up

Press the power switch (Q2 in the electrical panel), under normal circumstances, the light of the power switch will be on, and the voltmeter will display the battery voltage normally;
Check the battery voltage. If the voltage is greater than 24V, it indicates that the battery voltage is normal. If it is less than 24V, the battery is low, please charge it.

Emergency stop

Press the emergency stop switch at the rear of the BUNKER MINI body.

Basic operation process of remote control

After the BUNKER MINI robot chassis is started normally, turn on the remote control and select the control mode as the remote control mode, so that the motion of BUNKER MINI platform can be controlled by the remote control.

Charging

BUNKER MINI products are equipped with a standard charger by default, which can meet the charging needs of customers.

The specific operation process of charging is as follows

Make sure that the BUNKER MINI chassis is in a power-off state. Before charging, please confirm that Q2 (power switch) in the rear electrical console is turned off；
Insert the plug of the charger into the Q4 charging interface in the rear electrical control panel；
Connect the charger to the power supply and turn on the charger switch to enter the charging state.
When charging by default, there is no indicator light on the chassis. Whether it is charging or not depends on the status indication of the charger.

Development

BUNKER MINI products provide a CAN interface for users’ development, through which users can command and control the vehicle body.
BUNKER MINI products adopt CAN2.0B standard for the CAN communication standard, with the communication baud rate of 500K and the message format of MOTOROLA. The moving linear velocity and rotating angular velocity of the chassis can be controlled through the external CAN bus interface. Besides, BUNKER MINI will feedback the current motion state information and the state information of the BUNKER MINI chassis in real time, etc. The protocol includes a system state feedback frame, a motion control feedback frame, and a control frame. The details of the protocol are as follows: The system state feedback command includes current vehicle body state feedback, control mode state feedback, battery voltage feedback and fault feedback. The protocol contents are shown in Table 3.1

Command name	System state feedback command

Sending node Wire-controlled chassis

Data length

| Receiving Node ID 0x211 Cycle（ms） Receiving Timeout (ms)
Decision control unit

0x08

| | 200ms| None

Location| Function| Data Type| Description

byte [0]

|

Current vehicle body state

|

unsigned int8

| 0x00 System normal

0x01 Emergency shut-down mode 0x02 System exception

byte [1]

|

Mode control

|

unsigned int8

| 0x00 Standby mode

0x01 CAN command control mode 0x03 Remote control mode

byte [2]

byte [3]

| The upper eight bits of battery voltage

The lower eight bits of

battery voltage

|

unsigned int16

|

Actual voltage X10 (accurate to 0.1V)

byte [4]

byte [5]

| Reserved

Fault information

| –

unsigned int8

| 0x0

For details, see [Fault Information Description]

byte [6]| Reserved| –| 0x00

byte [7]

|

Count check(count)

|

unsigned int8

| 0~255 loop count, count up once every time a

command is sent

Explanation table of fault information

Fault information description

Byte

byte [5]

| Bit| Meaning
bit [0]| Battery undervoltage fault
bit [1]| Battery undervoltage warning

bit [2]

| Remote control disconnection protection（0: normal, 1: remote control

disconnection）

The motion control feedback frame command includes the feedback of current vehicle body’s motion linear velocity and motion angular velocity. The specific content of the protocol is shown in Table 3.3.

Table 3.3 Motion Control Feedback Frame

Command name	Motion control feedback command
Sending Node	Receiving Node ID

byte [0]

byte [1]

| The upper eight bits of the movement speed

The lower eight bits of the

movement speed

|

signed int16

|

Actual speed X 1000 (accurate to 0.001m/s)

byte [2]

byte [3]

| The upper eight bits of the rotation speed

The lower eight bits of the

rotation speed

|

signed int16

|

Actual speed X 1000 (accurate to 0.001rad/s)

The control frame includes the linear velocity control opening, the angular velocity control opening and the checksum. The specific protocol content is shown in Table 3.4.

Table 3.4 Motion Control Command Control Frame

Command name	Control command
Sending node	Receiving node ID

byte [0]

byte [1]

| The upper eight bits of the linear velocity

The lower eight bits of

the linear velocity

|

signed int16

|

Travel speed of the vehicle body, unit mm/s, value range [-1500, 1500]

byte [2]

byte [3]

| The upper eight bits of the angular velocity The lower eight bits of

the angular velocity

|

signed int16

|

Rotational angular velocity of the vehicle body, unit 0.001rad/s, value range [-1000, 1000]

The mode setting frame is used to set the control interface of the terminal, and its specific protocol content is shown in Table 3.5

Table 3.5 Control Mode Setting Frame

Command name	Control mode setting command
Sending node	Receiving node
Decision control unit	Chassis node
Data length	0x01
Position	Function

byte [0]

| CAN control

enabling

|

unsigned int8

| 0x00 Standby mode

0x01 CAN command mode enabling

Note: Control mode description

When the remote control for BUNKER MINI is not turned on, the default control mode is the standby mode, and you need to switch to the command mode to send the motion control command. If the remote control is turned on, it has the highest authority and can block the control of commands. When the remote control switches to the command mode, it still needs to send the control mode setting command before responding to the speed command. The state setting frame is used to clear system errors, and its specific protocol content is shown in Table 3.6.

Table 3.6 State setting frame

Command name	State setting command
Sending node	Receiving node
Decision control unit	Chassis node
Data length	0x01
Position	Function

byte [0]

|

Error clearance command

|

unsigned int8

| 0x00 Clear all errors 0x01 Clear motor 1 error

0x02 Clear motor 2 error

Note 3: Example data, the following data is for testing use only

The vehicle moves forward at a speed of 0.15/S

byte [0]	byte [1]	byte [2]	byte [3]	byte [4]	byte [5]	byte [6]	byte [7]
0x00	0x96	0x00	0x00	0x00	0x00	0x00	0x00

The vehicle rotates at 0.2RAD/S

| | | | |
byte [0]| byte [1]| byte [2]| byte [3]| byte [4]| byte [5]| byte [6]| byte [7]
0x00| 0x00| 0x00| 0xc8| 0x00| 0x00| 0x00| 0x00

In addition to the feedback of the chassis state information, the chassis feedback information also includes motor data and sensor data

Table 3.7 Feedback of motor speed current position information

Command name	Motor driver high-speed information feedback frame
Sending node	Receiving node
Wire-controlled chassis	Decision control unit

byte [0]

byte [1]

| The upper eight bits of motor speed

The lower eight bits of

motor speed

|

signed int16

|

Current Motor speed unit RPM

byte [2]

byte [3]

| The upper eight bits of motor current

The lower eight bits of

motor current

|

signed int16

|

Current motor current unit 0.1A

byte [4]

byte [5]

byte [6]

byte [7]

| The current position of the motor is the highest

The current position of the motor is the second highest

The current position of the motor is the second lowest The current position of the

motor is the lowest

|

signed int16

signed int16 signed int16

|

The current position of the motor Unit: number of pulses

Table 3.8 Feedback of motor temperature, voltage and state information

Command name	Motor driver low-speed information feedback frame
Sending node	Receiving node ID

byte [0]

byte [1]

| The upper eight bits of driver voltage

The lower eight bits of driver

voltage

|

signed int16

|

Current driver voltage unit0.1v

byte [2]

byte [3]

| The upper eight bits of driver temperature

The lower eight bits of driver

temperature

|

signed int16

|

unit 1℃

Table 3.9 Actuator sate

Fault information description

byte [5]

| bit [0]| Whether the power supply voltage is too low (0: normal 1: too low)
bit [1]| Whether the motor is over-temperature (0: normal 1: over-temperature)
bit [2]| Whether the motor is over-current (0: normal 1: over-current)
bit [3]| Whether the drive is over-temperature (0: normal 1: over-temperature)
bit [4]| Sensor state (0: normal 1: abnormal)
bit [5]| Actuator error state (0: normal 1: abnormal)
bit [6]| Actuator enabling state (0: Disabling 1: Enabling)
bit [7]| Reserved

Table 3.10 Odometer Feedback Frame

Command name	Odometer information feedback frame

Sending node Wire-controlled chassis

Data length

| Receiving node| ID| Cycle（ms）| Receiving Timeout (ms)
Decision control unit

0x08

| 0x311| 20ms| None

Position| Function| Data type| Description

byte [0]

| The highest bit of the left wheel odometer

The second highest bit of the left wheel odometer

The second lowest bit of the left wheel odometer

The lowest bit of the left wheel

odometer

| |

byte [1]

byte [2]

|

signed int32

|

The odometer feedback of the left wheel of the chassis

Unit：mm

byte [3]

| |

byte [4]

byte [5]

byte [6]

byte [7]

| The highest bit of the right wheel odometer

The second highest bit of the right wheel odometer

The second lowest bit of the right wheel odometer

The lowest bit of the right wheel

odometer

|

signed int32

|

The odometer feedback of the right wheel of the chassis

Unit： mm

Table 3.11 Remote control information feedback

Command name	Remote control information feedback frame
Sending node	Receiving node ID Cycle（ms）

byte [0]

|

Remote control SW feedback

|

unsigned int8

| bit[0-1]: SWA ：2-up 3-down bit[2-3]: SWB：2-up 1-mid 3-down bit[4-5]: SWC：2-up 1-mid 3-down

bit[6-7]: SWD：2-up 3-down

byte [7]

|

Count check

| unsigned

int8

|

0-255 loop count

CAN line connection

BUNKER MINI provides an aviation plug male as shown in Figure 3.2. The definition of the line is that the yellow is CANH, the blue is CANL, the red is the positive power supply, and the black is the negative power supply.

Note: The current BUNKER MINI version only has the top interface open to the external extension interface. The power supply in this version can provide a maximum current of 10A.

Realization of CAN command control

Start the BUNKER MINI mobile robot chassis normally, turn on the FS remote control, and then switch the control mode to command control, that is,push the SWB mode selection button of the FS remote control to the top, then the BUNKER MINI chassis will accept the command from the CAN interface, and the host also analyze the current chassis status through the real-time data fed back by the CAN bus. Refer to the CAN communication protocol for the specific protocol content.

Use and operation

In order to facilitate users to upgrade the firmware version of BUNKER MINI and bring to customers more perfect experience, BUNKER MINI provides the hardware interface for firmware upgrade and the corresponding client software. Its client interface is shown in Figure 3.3.

Upgrade preparation

Serial X 1 USB to serial port X 1
BUNKER MINI chassisX 1
PC(WINDOWS operating system) X 1

Firmware upgrade software

https://github.com/agilexrobotics/agilex_firmware

Upgrade Preparation

Ensure that the robot chassis power is off before connection;
Use the Serial to connect to the BUNKER MINI chassis to upgrade the serial port, and connect it to the computer;
Open the client software;
select the port number;
BUNKER MINI chassis is powered on, click Start Connection immediately, (BUNKER MINI) chassis will wait for 6S before power on; if the time exceeds 6S, it will enter the application);if the connection is successful, it will prompt “connection successful” in the text box;
Load BIN file;
Click on upgrade and wait for the prompt that the upgrade is complete; Disconnect the Serial, power off the chassis, and power it on again.

BUNKER MINI ROS Package Usage Example

ROS provides some standard operating system services, such as hardware abstraction, low-level device control, implementation of common functions, inter-process messaging, and data packet management. ROS is based on a graphical architecture, so that processes of different nodes can receive, publish, and aggregate various information (such as sensing, control, state, planning, etc.). Currently ROS mainly supports UBUNTU.

Development preparation

Hardware preparation

CANlight can communication module X1
Thinkpad E470 Laptop X1
AGILEX BUNKER MINI mobile robot chassis X1
AGILEX BUNKER MINI supporting remote control FS-i6s X1
AGILEXBUNKER MINI top aviation receptacle X1

Environment description of usage example

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS（this is a beta version, tested on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS）
ROS Kinetic（also tested in subsequent versions）
Git

Hardware connection and preparation

Pull out the CAN line of the BUNKER MINI 4-core aviation or rear plug, and connect the CAN_H and CAN_L in the CAN line to the CAN_TO_USB adapter respectively;
Turn on the chassis knob switch of the BUNKER MINI mobile robot, and check whether the emergency stop switches on both sides are released;
Connect CAN_TO_USB to the USB port of the laptop. The connection diagram is shown in Figure 3.4.

ROS Installation and Environment Setup

For installation details, please refer to http://wiki.ros.org/kinetic/Installation/Ubuntu

Test CANABLE hardware and CAN communication

Set up CAN-TO-USB

adapter Enabling
- gs_usb kernel module
- $ sudo modprobe gs_usb
Set 500k baud rate 和 Enabling can-to-usb adapter
- $ sudo ip link set can0 up type can bitrate 500000If
no errors occurred in the previous steps, you should be able to view the can device immediately with the command $ ifconfig -a
Install and use can-utils to test hardware $ sudo apt install can-utils
If the can-to-usb has been connected to the BUNKER robot this time, and the vehicle is powered on, use the following commands to monitor the data from the BUNKERchassis $ candump can0

Reference

AGILEX BUNKER ROS PACKAGE Download and compile

Download ros dependencies
- $ sudo apt install
- ros-$ROS_DISTRO-teleop-twist-key- board
- $ sudo apt install libasio-dev
Clone and compile the bunker_ros source code
- $ cd ~/catkin_ws/src
- $ git clone –recursive
https://github.com/agilexrobotics/ugv_sdk.git
- $ git clone
https://github.com/agilexrobotics/bunker_ros.git
- $ cd ..
- $ catkin_make
Reference: https://github.com/agilexrobotics/bunker_ros

Start the ROS node

Start the base node
$ roslaunch bunker_bringup bunker_minimal.launch Start the keyboard remote operation node
$ roslaunch bunker_bringup bunker_teleop_keyboard.launch

Attention

This part contains some points that should be paid attention to when using and developing BUNKER MINI.

Battery precautions

The battery of the BUNKER MINI product is not fully charged when it leaves the factory. The specific battery power can be displayed by the BUNKER MINI chassis rear voltage display or read through the CAN bus communication interface;
Please do not charge the battery after the it is exhausted. Please charge it in time when the low voltage at the rear of the BUNKER MINI shows below 24V;
Static storage conditions: The best storage temperature is -10℃~45℃. The battery should be charged and discharged once a month or so when it is not in use, and then the battery should be stored at full voltage. Do not put the battery into fire, or heat the battery, and do not store the battery at high temperature;
Charging: It must be charged with a special charger for lithium batteries. Do not charge the battery below 0°C, and do not use batteries, power supplies and chargers that are not standard in the original factory.

Precautions for operational environment

The working temperature of BUNKER MINI is -10 ℃ ~45 ℃ , please do not use it in the environment where the temperature is lower than -10℃ and higher than 45℃;
Do not use it in an environment with corrosive or flammable gases or in an environment close to flammable substances;
Do not store it around heating elements such as heaters or large coiled resistors;
The waterproof and dustproof grade of BUNKER MINI is IP67, please do not use it in water for a long time, and check to remove rust regularly;
It is recommended that the altitude of the environment should not exceed 1000M;
It is recommended that the temperature difference between day and night should not exceed 25℃;
Regularly check and maintain track tensioners.

Precautions for electrical external expansion

The rear expansion power supply current does not exceed 6.25A, and the total power does not exceed 300W.

Safety precautions

If you have any questions during the use process, please follow the relevant instruction manuals or consult relevant technical personnel;
Before operating the equipment, pay attention to the on-site situation to avoid personnel security problems caused by misoperation;
In case of emergency, power off the equipment by tapping the emergency stop button;
Do not modify the internal device structure without technical support and permission

Other precautions

When carrying and setting up operation, please do not drop or turn it upside down;
for non-professionals, please do not disassemble it without permission.

Q&A

Q: BUNKER MINI starts normally, but the vehicle body does not move with the remote control?
- A: First, determine whether the power switch is pressed and whether the emergency stop switch is released, and then confirm whether the control mode selected by the mode selection switch on the upper left side of the remote control is correct.
Q: When the BUNKER MINI remote control is normal, the chassis state and motion information feedback is normal, and the control frame protocol is issued, why the vehicle body control mode cannot be switched, and the chassis does not respond to the control frame protocol?
- A: Under normal circumstances, if BUNKER MINI can be controlled by the remote control, it means that the chassis motion control is normal, and it can receive the feedback frame of the chassis, which means that the CAN extension link is normal. Please check whether the command is switched to CAN control mode..
Q: When the relevant communication is carried out through the CAN bus, and the chassis feedback command is normal, why does the car do not respond after the control is issued?
- A: BUNKER MINI has a communication protection mechanism inside. Chassis has a timeout protection mechanism when dealing with external CAN control commands. Assuming that after the vehicle receives a frame of communication protocol, it does not receive the next frame of control commands for more than 500MS, and it will enter the communication protection with a speed of 0, so the command from the host computer must be periodically issued.