Seekur's smaller brother, Seekur Jr, is a sturdy, all-weather platform that can handle everything from open fields to parking garages. This skid-steer platform handles moderate terrain with good stability. SeekurJr offers space, power and networking for onboard PCs. This opens the way for onboard vision processing, radio-based communications, laser rangefinding, DGPS, and other autonomous functions.

Seekur Jr runs up to two hours on its NiMH batteries. Seekur Jr's four monster wheels are designed for speeds up to 1.2 meters per second [2.7mph] and slopes up to 75% with good response, even with a 50kg payload. Seekur options include laser, DGPS, MobileRanger stereovision, an inertial measurement unit, user I/O expansion and a rapidly growing suite of other accessories.

The bare Seekur Jr base with included ARIA software and optional radio modem has the ability to:

Seekur Jr, shown with GPS, ARNL Laser Mapping & Navigation plus radio Ethernet.

• WANDER randomly, avoiding obstacles
• DRIVE controlled by keys or joystick
• COMMUNICATE SENSOR & CONTROL INFORMATION including steering and traction motor data, user I/O, and battery charge data
• RUN C/C++ PROGRAMS created with or without ARIA or our other software development environments
• SIMULATE BEHAVIORS OFFLINE with the simulator that accompanies each development environment

With a Seekur Jr PC and our Laser Mapping and Navigation option, Seekur Jr can:

• MAP warehouses, hangars and other spaces in minutes
• PLAN PATHS to goals
• AVOID OBSTACLES along the way

  Videos

It's not painted yet, but here is a sneak preview of:

Seekur Jr on YouTube!

SEEKUR JR COMPONENTS

The Seekur base package includes:

• Seekur base
• Weight saving aluminum unibody construction
• 4 wheel skid steering
• 4 wheel drive
• High power DC-DC conversion for accessories

• Control server PC
• Low-level Seekur OS
• ARIA mid-level API client software
• Hot-swappable 24V nickel-metal hydride (NiMH) battery pack
• Charger
• Operations manual
• Tethered joystick

  Seekur offers a wide suite of options and accessories: 

• mOGS software with DGPS
• MobileRanger outdoor stereovision with onboard processing
• MobileRanger C3D obstacle avoidance system
  
• ARNL Laser mapping and navigation system
• Inertial measurement unit
• Outdoor Arm
• Onboard PCs
• Wireless radio communications
• LCD user interface with diagnostic screens and backlight
• Weatherized PTZ camera
• Wireless joystick

FOR MORE INFORMATION:  Robot Accessories

TECHNICAL FEATURES

Seekur Jr climbs a 75% grade with no load. On level surfaces, Seekur Jr is expected to move at speeds of 1.2m/s [2.7 mph], with payloads up to 50kg. Payloads include all accessories and must be balanced appropriately for effective operation of this or any robot.

The platform is expected to achieve a typical continuous run-time of 45-60 minutes and an average useful run-time of 2-3 hours. Batteries may be hot-swapped. Run:recharge ratio is expected to be approximately 1:1. This can be bettered by purchasing additional battery packs and hot-swapping.

Proprietary firmware running on an environmentally hardened microcontroller controls the platform. It accepts commands and transfers status and sensor readings to a PC client using the same Aria protocol as all other MobileRobots platforms. These PC client programs can be run from Linux or Windows, using Aria and other robotics development libraries to handle navigation, path planning, and many other robotics tasks.

Seekur Jr UGV runs on pavement, grass, snow and dirt.

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Software