RAPOSA-NG

RAPOSA logo, by Filipe Jesus

Introduction

IdMind designed a new version of RAPOSA for commercial purposes, named RAPOSA NG (Next Generation). ISR has acquired a unit of this new version for project and investigation purposes, aiming for depth notion, user-friendly visual control, 3D mapping, localization and augmented reality.

Specifications

Dimensions

• Length: 84 cm;
• Width: 47cm;
• Height: 18cm;

• Wheel radius: 9.5cm;

• Weight (without extra hardware equipped): 17kg;
• Weight (with extra hardware equipped): 22kg.

Components

Internal Devices

From origin:

• 2 Maxon 150W DC motors (for differential drive);
• Firgelli Automation DC motor (to tilt the front body);
• 2 electronic boards:
  • Motors board (for encoding);
  • Relay board (to manage and redirect power supplies);

Internal computer:

• Commell LV-679: A Mini-ITX Motherboard with:
  • Intel Core 2 Duo 1.6Ghz 4Mo 800Mhz Processor;
  • 2x Kingston 1GB 667Mhz DDR2 RAM;
  • Intel PRO/Wireless LAN 2100 3B Mini PCI adapter;
  • Kingston SSDNow V Series 64GB.

External Devices

Sensors:

• Point Grey Bumblebee2 (Firewire stereo camera system);
• MicroStrain 3DM-GX2 (IMU with triaxial accelerometer, triaxial gyro, triaxial magnetometer, temperature sensors, and an on-board processor).

Power

• 2x 4S2P Li-Po batteries 4800mAh 14.8V;

Extras

• 2x Groupner ULTRAMAT (for Li-Po battery charging);
• +6x 4S2P Li-Po batteries 4800mAh 14.8V (for replacement);
• PC Laptop Sony VAIO with Intel Core i5 (for wireless communications with RAPOSA-NG);
• Gamepad Logitech® Rumblepad™ 2 (to control RAPOSA-NG);
• External power source.

To be installed

• Microsoft© Kinect for XBOX 360 (Vision + Depth camera);
• A Pan & Tilt motor.

Power

Battery used by RAPOSA-NG

RAPOSA-NG uses two 4S2P Li-Po batteries with 4800mAh and 14.8V for motors and electronics, respectively. Two LEDs near the lock indicates how much energy is left for the electronics (left) and motors (right).

It is also possible to use an external power supply for the electronics.

Switch on/off

Motors and electronics are also switched on/off independently.

To switch on/off the electronics, place the key into the lock and turn it.

If the external power supply is connected and on, the electronics are immediately on. Remove the external power supply to switch off the electronics.

To switch on/off the motors, simply press the red button at the bottom-left top corner. If the light is on, the motors are on.

Batteries

RAPOSA-NG uses Lithium-ion Polymer batteries (Li-Po) with 4800mAh and 14.8V.

The primary difference between this batteries and other Lithium-ion is that the lithium-salt electrolyte is not held in an organic solvent but in a solid polymer composite such as polyethylene oxide or polyacrylonitrile.

Each battery is composed of 4 cells with 2400mAh and 3.7V each, in a 4S2P fashion (two 4 series packs in parallel).

Battery Charger

How to charge RAPOSA-NG batteries using ULTRAMAT 10

Currently two all-purpose fast chargers from Groupner (ULTRAMAT 10) are used to charge RAPOSA-NG batteries at the Mobile Robots Laboratory (8th floor, North Tower, IST Campus-Alameda).

To recharge RAPOSA-NG batteries using ULTRAMAT 10:

• Connect the ULTRAMAT 10 power plug to an available power socket;

• Connect the battery plug to the ULTRAMAT 10 battery socket;

• Press ENTER (the first button from the right) two times.

If the ULTRAMAT screen presents the following screen (the current and voltage displayed in this image are irrelevant)

it means that it is charging‎. When finished, the ULTRAMAT 10 will beep for a few seconds and the following screen (again, the current and voltage displayed in this image are irrelevant)

will be presented.

For any other information regarding the ULTRAMAT 10 usage, please check this manual (in Dutch, English and French):

Battery Charger ULTRAMAT 10 manual

Risks

This batteries are highly dangerous when used without proprer measures. They can only be charged with appropritate Lithium-ion Polymer chargers and with the correct specifications. Crashes, high temperatures and short circuits can cause explosions. Please be extra carefull when dealing with this batteries.

Precautions

• NO NOT use other chargers to charge the batteries, unless it is a Li-Po charger and it is correctly configured;
• Avoid recharging batteries already charged. This can reduce their live expectancy;
• Recharge a battery as soon as possible to prevent live damages;
• Never leave them recharging without any supervision, as any accident with the battery can cause a fire;
• If a battery starts to swell (or is already swollen), STOP USING IT and give them to someone that can thew them away in the proper places;
• NEVER trow a battery into the normal garbage.