Control of a fully automated mobile cleaning system for large vehicles

We present a realization of a robot control for an hydraulic crane, and the surveillance of vehicles with 2D outdoor laser scanners, combined on a single huge outdoor machine. The robot control allows both, driving on predefined paths as well as direct sensor guided driving with the laser scanners. The purpose of the entire machine is to automatically clean and decontaminate miltary vehicles. The challenges of this project were twofold. Firstly, high precision in positioning the crane was required as well as accurate synchronization of movements of crane and cleaning bars, although the given mechanics were rather coarse. Secondly, for the precise surveillance of vehicles, specific filters and algorithms had to be created and optimized, taking into account various side conditions.