Autonomous Mobile Robots and Multi-Robot Systems

8Energy Limitations and Energetic Efficiency of Mobile Robots

Michael Ben Chaim

8.1 Introduction

In the previous chapters, we considered the methods and algorithms of navigation and motion‐planning of mobile robots, avoiding the fact that each mobile robot is a physical device with certain limitation on energy support. However, energy supply is one of the most important challenges for mobile robots, and most existing studies on mobile robots focus on motion planning in order to reduce the required energy. Notice that the movement and flight endurance and payload capabilities of miniature robots are strongly limited due to the unfavorable scaling effects and the lack of portable power storage devices with a sufficient power/mass ratio. These payload and flight endurance constraints strongly limit the applicability of miniature robots.

This chapter deals with the analysis of energy consumers, presents a methodology of power calculation and optimization of the power/mass ratio of miniature robots, and provides several examples that demonstrate how to reduce the energy consumption in the robots. These examples together with motion planning provide greater opportunities to achieve better energy efficiency for mobile robots.

The experimental verification of the suggested methods was performed on autonomous mobile wheeled robot, which was developed in collaboration with the students of the Department of Machines, Mechatronics, and Robotics of Ariel University. The results of suggested ...