Electronics

Raspberry Pi

The robot uses two Raspberry Pi 5 units, referred to as the "Main" and "Aux" Raspberry Pi.

The "Main Raspi" is responsible for core robot functionality and launches the odometry, lifecycle management, and bridge-related ROS nodes.

The "Aux Raspi" handles the majority of the remaining ROS launch packages, including the computationally intensive perception and support nodes.

Hardware Specifications

Main Raspberry Pi

• Raspberry Pi 5
• 16 GB RAM
• 60 GB storage (SD card)

Aux Raspberry Pi

• Raspberry Pi 5
• 8 GB RAM
• 512 GB external SSD storage

System Architecture

During testing, it was observed that the Main Raspi could not reliably handle all ROS launch packages simultaneously. To improve stability and performance, most workloads were therefore moved to the Aux Raspberry Pi.

One likely reason for this difference is the storage medium. The Main Raspberry Pi uses an SD card, while the Aux Raspberry Pi uses an external SSD, which provides significantly faster read/write performance and better handling of high I/O workloads generated by ROS 2 nodes, logging, and vision processing.

This split architecture allows the robot to distribute computational load more effectively and improves overall system responsiveness and reliability.

Ethernet Network

Router

The router is used to connect the Raspberry Pi units and external devices on the robot network. It allows communication between the onboard computers and provides Ethernet access for external computers during development, debugging, and monitoring.

The router has a total of five Ethernet ports:

• Two ports are currently occupied by the Main and Aux Raspberry Pi units
• The remaining ports can be used to connect external computers directly to the robot network
• Router power supply: 5V / 0.6A

Network Configuration

• Network/CIDR: 192.168.1.0/24

• Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

Ethernet IP Addresses

• Main Raspberry Pi: 192.168.1.1
• Aux Raspberry Pi: 192.168.1.2

Setup for External Computers

To connect a computer to the robot network through Ethernet, configure the network interface manually. The following settings must be configured:

• Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0
• Assign an available static IP address in the range 192.168.1.x

Note: 192.168.1.1 and 192.168.1.2 are already assigned to the Raspberry Pi units and must not be reused

Linear actuator

The actuator is a ...

Lidar

The lidar is a ...

Realsense D455

The camera is a ...

Teensy Configuration

Figure: The main hardware blocks. Two Teensy processors are the interface to the hardware. The drive processor controls the drive motors, safety and battery system. The front processor controls the brush and the front wheel to lift the brush. A main PC integrates the functionality with additional sensors to allow autonomous operation.

Teensy firmware

Fejemis Teensy software is build using standard Arduino library configurations. The interface to the main PC is organized as text-lines.

Electrical

Fejemis electrical wiring etc.

Battery control

The Fejemis battery control is a 24V system (2x3cell LiPo 5Ah) with power on-off and measurement electronics. There is on-board chargers for all batteries.

Brush unit

The Fejemis brush unit is a commercial brush that comes with its own battery (12V), charger and motor control. The unit is slightly modified to to allow measurement and control from the software.