Design and Implementation of Omni-Directional Soccer Robots for RoboCup

Mobility of mobile robots is a vital factor of competition for playing soccer in RoboCup. In this paper, omni-directional soccer robots are designed and implemented for the small-size league of RoboCup. In mechanism, the soccer robots not only provide an omni-directional drive device for holonomic mobility, but also include dribbler and kicker device, in order to enhance robot's holding and passing ability in a game. In control system, we use MC68332 as kernel, and design a microprocessor control system for finishing the function of the omni-directional soccer robot. According to the mechanism and control system, a man-machine interface, OMNI, is designed by a series of program to integrate a control system that can manipulate and control robot's motion behaviors. The friction force of omni-directional wheels is studied by experiments. Experiments for promoting the performance of tracking control are also included.