Abstract
Wireless sensor networks (WSN) in conjunction with the Internet of Things (IoT) have allowed for distributed robotic systems with continually-increasing sensing capabilities, interconnectivity, and, in turn, the capability to perform complex tasks in unpredictable environments. This paper presents the design of a mobile platooning robotic vehicle system. These low-cost robotic platforms use one-way communication from the leader to follower robots to convey the leader's velocity and operating state via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) 5.2. The platform presented in this paper is designed for cost-effectiveness and expandability. Each robot uses an Arduino Nano 33 BLE as a microcontroller and a bi-motor differential drive. Sensing is achieved using wheel encoders and an inertial measurement unit. This information is processed on the leader robot using a sensor fusion algorithm and transmitted via BLE to the follower robots. The follower uses the received information to control its traction and follow the motion set forth by the leader robot.