DORI: Distributed Outdoor Robotic Instruments
This project addresses the need for affordable robotic instruments for outdoor exploration simulations, but it is incremental as it applies existing hardware design principles to a new application.
The researchers tackled the problem of simulating planetary exploration missions by developing DORI, a low-cost, remotely controlled vehicle equipped with over 20 environmental sensors for data analysis and remote upload, using recycled consumer electronics to reduce costs.
DORI (Distributed Outdoor Robotic Instruments) is a remotely controlled vehicle that is designed to simulate a planetary exploration mission. DORI is equipped with over 20 environmental sensors and can perform basic data analysis, logging and remote upload. The individual components are distributed across a fault-tolerant bus for redundancy. A partial sensor list includes atmospheric pressure, rainfall, wind speed, GPS, gyroscopic inertia, linear acceleration, magnetic field strength, temperature, laser and ultrasonic distance sensing, as well as digital audio and video capture. The project uses recycled consumer electronics devices as a low-cost source for sensor components. This report describes the hardware design of DORI including sensor electronics, embedded firmware, and physical construction.