An Autonomous system for linear and angular measurements in big surfaces

B. Valera, R. Nava & E. Miranda

Centre of Applied Sciences and Technological Development, UNAM Apdo. Postal 70-186, Coyoacán, 04510, México, D.F. Tel. 5622 8602, Ext. 122 Fax. 5622 8624. E-Mail: valerab@aleph.cinstrum.unam.mx

Received: April 22^th 2002.
Accepted: January 7^th 2003.

Abstract

At present, warehouse construction industry makes large vertical stores over small areas causing vertical designs of vehicles and structures. In this situation, the floor must have constant levelness and high flatness in order to achieve the nominal performance of the very narrow aisle lift trucks. With this in mind, in this paper we present a novel system for levelness and flatness measurement based on big surfaces shape measurement. The system has linear and angular optical measurement devices on a mobile robot with automatic drive based on an embedded microcontroller. Readings from the robot are sent to a host computer by means of a radio frequency link for future analysis of level and flatness in agreement with the E1 155-87 ASM standard. In addition, this work presents a PC program that receives data from the robot and then sends the data dynamically to a spreadsheet. The complete travel of the vehicle over the measurement area can be made with high degree of automation, reporting remarkable advantages compared to those of a manual process.

Keywords: Mobile Robot, Flat Floors, Flatness and Levelness Measurements, OLE Automation.

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