ROBOTICS BUNKER Explore Robot Platforms Chironix User Manual

: June 15, 2024
: ROBOTICS

Table of Contents

ROBOTICS BUNKER Explore Robot Platforms Chironix User Manual
Safety Information
Precautions
1 BUNKER Introduction
2 The Basics
3 Getting Started
4 Q&A
5 Product Dimensions
- References
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ROBOTICS BUNKER Explore Robot Platforms Chironix User Manual

BUNKER
AgileX Robotics Team

Document version

Safety Information

This chapter contains important safety information, before the robot is powered on for he first time, any individual or organization must read and understand this information before using the device. If you have any questions about use, please contact us at support@agilex.ai

Please follow and implement all assembly instructions and guidelines in the chapters of this manual, which is very important. Particular attention should be paid to the text related to the warning signs.
The information in this manual does not include the design, installation and operation of a complete robot application, nor does it include all peripheral equipment that may affect the safety of the complete system. The design and use of the complete system need to comply with the safety requirements established in the standards and regulations of the country where the robot is installed. BUNKER integrators and end customers have the responsibility to ensure compliance with the applicable laws and regulations of relevant countries, and to ensure that there are no major dangers in the complete robot application. This includes but is not limited to the following:

Effectiveness and responsibility

Make a risk assessment of the complete robot system. Connect the additional safety equipment of other machinery defined by the risk assessment together.
Confirm that the design and installation of the entire robot system’s peripheral equipment, including software and hardware systems, are correct.
This robot does not have a complete autonomous mobile robot, including but not limited to automatic anti-collision, anti-falling, biological approach warning and other related safety functions. Related functions require integrators and end customers to follow relevant regulations and feasible laws and regulations for safety assessment , To ensure that the developed robot does not have any major hazards and safety hazards in actual applications.
Collect all the documents in the technical file: including risk assessment and this manual.
Know the possible safety risks before operating and using the equipment.

Environmental Considerations
For the first use,please read this manual carefully to understand the basic operating content and operating specification.
For remote control operation, select a relatively open area to use Bunker, because Bunker is not equipped with any automatic obstacle avoidance sensor.
Use Bunker always under -10℃~45℃ ambient temperature.
If Bunker is not configured with separate custom IP protection, its water and dust protection will be IP44 ONLY.

Check
Make sure each device has sufficient power.
Make sure Bunker does not have any obvious defects.
Check if the remote controller battery has sufficient power.
When using, make sure the emergency stop switch has been released.

Precautions

Operation Precautions

In remote control operation, make sure the area around is relatively spacious.
Carry out remote control within the range of visibility.
The maximum load of BUNKER is 70KG. When in use, ensure that the payload does not exceed 70KG.
When installing an external extension on BUNKER, confirm the position of the center of mass of the extension and make sure it is at the center of rotation.
Please charge in time when the device voltage is lower than 48V.
When BUNKER has a defect, please immediately stop using it to avoid secondary damage.
When BUNKER has had a defect, please contact the relevant technical to deal with it, do not handle the defect by yourself.
Always use BUNKER in the environment with the protection level requires for the equipment.
Do not push BUNKER directly.
When charging, make sure the ambient temperature is above 0℃.

Battery

The battery of BUNKER products is not fully charged when it leaves the factory. The specifi c battery power can be read from the voltage display meter at the rear of the BUNKER chassis or the CAN bus communication interface;
Please do not charge the battery after it is exhausted, and charge it in time when the low voltage at the tail of the BUNKER is lower than 48V;
Static storage conditions: The optimal storage temperature is -10℃~45℃. When the battery is not in use, it must be charged and discharged once every month, and then stored at full voltage. Do not leave the battery in a Put into fi re, or heat the battery, do not store the battery at high temperature;
Charging: You must use the matching dedicated lithium battery charger for charging. Do not charge the battery below 0°C. Do not use non-original standard batteries, power supplies, and chargers.

Usage environment

The working temperature of BUNKER is -10℃~45℃. Please do not use it in environments with temperatures below -10℃ and above 45℃;
The relative humidity requirements of BUNKER’s operating environment are: maximum 80%, minimum 30%;
Do not use in an environment with corrosive or fl ammable gases or in an environment close to fl ammable substances;
Do not exist around heating elements such as heaters or large winding resistors;
Except for the specially customized version (customized with IP protection level), BUNKER is not waterproof, so please do not use it in environments with rain, snow, or standing water;
It is recommended that the altitude of the operating environment does not exceed 1000M;
It is recommended that the temperature diff erence between day and night in the use environment should not exceed 25°C;
Regularly inspect and maintain the track tensioner.

Electrical external extension

The current of the extended power supply at the tail does not exceed 6.25A, and the total power does not exceed 300W;

Additional safety advice

If you have any questions about the use process, please follow the relevant instruction manual or consult relevant technical personnel;
Before using the equipment, pay attention to the on-site conditions to avoid improper operation that may cause personal safety problems;
In case of emergency, power off the device by tapping the emergency stop button;
Please do not modify the internal device structure without technical support and permission.

Maintenance

Regularly check the tension of the hanging crawler, and tighten the crawler every 150~200h.
After every 500 hours of operation, the bolts and nuts of each part of the car body should be inspected. If they are loose, they must be tightened immediately.
In order to ensure the storage capacity of the battery, the battery should be stored under electricity, and it should be charged regularly when not used for a long time.

Other notes

When transporting and setting up, do not drop or turn it upside down;
Non-professionals, please do not disassemble it without permission.

1 BUNKER Introduction

BUNKER is designed as a multi-purpose tracked chassis with different application scenarios considered: simple and sensitive operation, large development space, adapt to various fields of development and application, independent suspension system, high payload and suspension, strong climbing ability, can climb stairs. It can be used for the development of special robots such as inspection and exploration, rescue and detonation, special shooting, special transportation, etc., to solve the robot mobile solution.

1.1 Component list

1.2 Tech specifications

1.3 Required for development
FS RC transmitter is provided (optional) in the factory setting of BUNKER, which allows users to control the chassis of robot to move and turn; CAN and RS232 interfaces on BUNKER can be used for user’s customization.

2 The Basics

This section provides a brief introduction to the BUNKER mobile robot platform. It is convenient for users and developers to have a basic understanding of BUNKER chassis.

2.1 Description of electrical interface
The interface at rear end is shown in Figure 2-1, where Q1 is CAN and 48V power supply aviation interface; Q2 is the power switch; Q3 is the recharging interface; Q4 is the aerial; Q5 is the drive test interface; Q6 is the emergency stop switch; Q7 is the display of battery voltage.

Figure 2.1 Tail electrical interface

The definitions of Q1 communication and power interface as shown in Figure 2-2.

2.2 Instructions on remote control
FS RC transmitter is an optional accessory of BUNKER for manually controlling the robot. The transmitter comes with a left-hand-throttle configuration. The functions of the buttons are defined as: SWA, SWC, SWD are enabled by default. SWB for control mode selection, top position for command control mode and the middle position for remote control mode. When configuring the autowalker navigation system, the bottom is the navigation control mode. S1 is the throttle button to control the forward and backward of BUNKER; S2 controls the rotation, POWER is the power button, and it can be turned on at the same time. It should be noted that when the remote controller is turned on, SWA, SWB, SWC, SWD all need to be at the top.

Figure 2.3 Schematic Diagram of Buttons on FS RC transmitter

Remote control interface description:
Bunker : model
Vol: battery voltage
Car: chassis status
Batt: Chassis power percentage
P: Park
Remoter: remote control battery level
Fault Code: Error information (Represents byte [5] in 211 frame)

2.3 Instructions on control demands and movements
A reference coordinate system can be defined and fixed on the vehicle body as shown in Figure 2.4 in accordance with ISO 8855.

As shown in Figure 2.4, the vehicle body of BUNKER is in parallel with X axis of the established reference coordinate system.

In RC control mode, push the remote control stick S1 forward to move in the positive X direction, push stick S1 backward to move in the negative X direction. When S1 is pushed to the maximum value, the movement speed in the positive X direction is the maximum, when S1 is pushed to the minimum value, the movement speed is the maximum in the negative direction of the X direction.The remote control stick S2 controls the rotation of the car body left and right. The remote control joystick S2 controls the rotation of the car body left and right. When S2 pushes the car body to the left, it rotates from the positive direction of the X axis to the positive direction of the Y axis. When S2 pushes the car body to the right, it rotates from the positive direction of the X axis to the negative direction of the Y axis. S2 When pushing to the left to the maximum value, the counterclockwise rotation speed is the maximum. When S2 is pushed to the right to the maximum value, the clockwise rotation speed is the maximum.

Following this convention, a positive linear velocity corresponds to the forward movement of the vehicle along positive x-axis direction and a positive angular velocity corresponds to positive right-hand rotation about the z-axis.

3 Getting Started

This section introduces the basic operation and development of the BUNKER platform using the CAN bus interface.

3.1 Use and operation
Check
Check the condition of vehicle body. Check whether there are significant anomalies; if so, please contact the after-sale service personnel for support;
Check the state of emergency stop switches. Make sure Q6 emergency stop button at the rear is released;
For first-time use, check whether Q3 (drive power supply switch) on the rear panel has been pressed down; if so, please release it, and then the drive will be powered off;

Startup
Press the key switch (Q2 on the electrical panel), and normally, the voltmeter will display correct battery voltage and front and rear lights will be both switched on;
Check the battery voltage. If the voltage is higher than 48V, it means the battery voltage is correct; if the battery power level is low, please charge the battery;

Shutdown
Press the key switch to cut off the power supply;

Emergency stop
Press down emergency push button at the rear of BUNKER vehicle body;

Basic operating procedure of remote control
After the chassis of BUNKER mobile robot is started correctly, turn on the RC transmitter and select the remote-control mode. Then, BUNKER platform movement can be controlled by the RC transmitter.

3.2 Charging
BUNKER is equipped with a standard charger by default to meet customers’ recharging demand.
The detailed operating procedure of charging is shown as follows:

Make sure the electricity of BUNKER chassis is powered off. Before charging, please make sure Q2 (key switch) in the rear control console is turned off;
Insert the charger plug into Q3 charging interface on the rear control panel;
Connect the charger to power supply and turn on the switch in the charger. Then, the robot enters the charging state.

3.3 Communication using CAN

BUNKER provides CAN interfaces for customization and development. Users can send command to control the chassis through the CAN interface.
BUNKER uses CAN2.0B communication standard with 500K baud rate and Motorola message format. The moving linear speed and the rotational angular speed of chassis can be controlled by CAN bus interface. The feedback of current motion status and chassis status would be provided from BUNKER simultaneously.
The protocol includes system status feedback frame, motion control feedback frame and control frame, please refer to the content as below for detail:
The system status feedback command provides the feedback about current status of the chassis, control mode status, battery voltage and system failure. The information is given in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1 Bunker Chassis Status Feedback Frame

Table 3.2 Description of Failure Information

The motion control feedback frame includes the feedback of linear and angular speed of chassis. Please refer to Table 3.3 for detail.

Table 3.3 Motion Control Feedback Frame

Note[1] Description for control mode

When the remote control is power off, the control mode of BUNKER is can command control by default , that means chassis can be controlled by commands directly. Please note that the control mode in command still need to set 0x01 if the speed command need to be executed successfully. If you power on the remote control, then the remote control has the highest priority, the chassis would switch the control mode based on remote control only.

The status clear frame is used to clear the system failures, please refer to table 3.6 for detail.

Table 3.6 Status Clear Frame

In addition to the feedback of chassis status, there are also feedback data from the motors and sensors.

Table 3.7 Motor Rotational Speed Feedback Frame

Table 3.8 Motor Temperature, Voltage and Status Feedback Frame

Table 3.9 Drive Status Byte

Table 3.11 Remote Control Information Feedback Frame

3.3.2 CAN Cable Connection
BUNKER ships with the vehicle and provides a male aviation plug as shown in Figure 3.2. The defi nition of the wires is: yellow is CANH, blue is CANL, red is the positive power supply, and black is the negative power supply.

Note: In the current BUNKER version, only the tail interface is open to external expansion interfaces. The power supply in this version can provide a maximum current of 10A.

Figure 3.2 Schematic diagram of aviation plug male connector

3.3.3 Implementation of CAN
Correctly start the chassis of BUNKER mobile robot, and turn on FS RC transmitter. Then, switch to the command control mode, i.e. toggling SWB mode of FS RC transmitter to the top. At this point, BUNKER chassis will accept the command from CAN interface, and the host can also parse the current state of chassis with the real-time data fed back from CAN bus. For the detailed content of protocol, please refer to CAN communication protocol.

3.4 Firmware upgrades
In order to facilitate users to upgrade the firmware version used by BUNKER and bring customers a more complete experience, BUNKER provides a firmware upgrade hardware interface and corresponding client software.

Upgrade Preparation
Agilex CAN debugging module X 1
Micro USB cable X 1
BUNKER 2.0 chassis X 1
A computer (WINDOWS OS (Operating System)) X 1

Upgrade Process

Plug in the USBTOCAN module on the computer, and then open the AgxCandoUpgradeToolV1.3_boxed.exe software (the sequence cannot be wrong, fi rst open the software and then plug in the module, the device will not be recognized).
Click the Open Serial button, and then press the power button on the car body. If the connection is successful, the version information of the main control will be recognized, as shown in the fi gure.

3.Click the Load Firmware File button to load the fi rmware to be upgraded. If the loading is successful, the fi rmware information will be obtained, as shown in the fi gure

4.Click the node to be upgraded in the node list box, and then click Start Upgrade Firmware to start upgrading the fi rmware. After the upgrade is successful, a pop-up box will prompt.

3.5 BUNKER ROS Package Use Example
ROS provide some standard operating system services, such as hardware abstraction, low-level device control, implementation of common function, interprocess message and data packet management. ROS is based on a graph architecture, so that process of different nodes can receive, and aggregate various information (such as sensing, control, status, planning, etc.) Currently ROS mainly support UBUNTU.

Preparation
Hardware preparation

CANlight can communication module ×1
Thinkpad E470 notebook ×1
AGILEX BUNKER mobile robot chassis ×1
AGILEX BUNKER remote control FS-i6s ×1
AGILEX BUNKER top aviation power socket ×1

Use example environment description

Ubuntu 18.04
ROS melodic
Git

Hardware connection and preparation

Lead out the CAN wire of the BUNKER top aviation plug or the tail plug, and connect CAN_H and CAN_L in the CAN wire to the CAN_TO_USB adapter respectively;
Turn on the knob switch on the BUNKER mobile robot chassis, and check whether the emergency stop switches on both sides are released；
Connect the CAN_TO_USB to the usb point of the notebook. The connection diagram is shown in Figure 3.4.

Figure 3.4 CAN connection diagram

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

Test CANABLE hardware and CAN communication
Setting CAN-TO-USB adaptor

Github ROS development package directory and usage instructions
_base:: The core node for the chassis to send and receive hierarchical CAN messages. Based on the communication mechanism of ros, it can control the movement of the chassis and read the status of the bunker through the topic.
_msgs: Defi ne the specifi c message format of the chassis status feedback topic.
*_bringup: startup fi les for chassis nodes and keyboard control nodes, and scripts to enable the usb_to_can module

4 Q&A

Q：BUNKER is started up correctly, but why cannot the RC transmitter control the vehicle body to move?
A：First, check whether the drive power supply is in normal condition, whether the drive power switch is pressed down and whether E-stop switches are released; then, check whether the control mode selected with the top left mode selection switch on the RC transmitter is correct.

Q: BUNKER remote control is in normal condition, and the information about chassis status and movement can be received correctly, but when the control frame protocol is issued, why cannot the vehicle body control mode be switched and the chassis respond to the control frame protocol?
A:Normally, if BUNKER can be controlled by a RC transmitter, it means the chassis movement is under proper control; if the chassis feedback frame can be accepted, it means CAN extension link is in normal condition. Please check the CAN control frame sent to see whether the data check is correct and whether the control mode is in command control mode.

Q: When communication is implemented via CAN bus, the chassis feedback command is issued correctly, but why does not the vehicle respond to the control command?
A:There is a communication protection mechanism inside BUNKER, which means the chassis is provided with timeout protection when processing external CAN control commands. Suppose the vehicle receives one frame of communication protocol, but it does no receive the next frame of control command after 500ms. In this case, it will enter communication protection mode and set the speed to 0. Therefore, commands from upper computer must be issued periodically.