Rovers

Rovers usually either have treads (like a tank) or wheels (like a car). The Mars Rovers are great examples of USV Rovers. They move along the surface of Mars taking various readings and measurements in an effort to explore the surface of another planet without the risk to human life. The following picture shows one of these Mars Rovers:

Not every endeavor for a rover needs to be quite so lofty as to explore another planet. Rovers are currently used in aspects of our daily lives (the iRobot Roomba is a daily life example of a USV Rover) all the way through exploring our own planet (rovers designed to explore lava flows—areas far too dangerous and inhospitable to humans).

However, rovers don't have to simply be driven across the ground. Some rovers are actually boats designed to skid across the surface of water for various purposes. An example of boat-drone USV is the one designed by the US Navy to escort ships through pirate-ridden waters, and protect naval vessels from other hostile vessels in dangerous waters (eliminating, or at least reducing, the need for bloated battle-groups).

In this book, we will be designing three surface rovers:

• A basic autonomous RC car which serves no purpose other than your education on the basics of implementing the Ardupilot interface.
• A water USV that serves the purpose of a duck decoy which autonomously navigates pre-planned routes around a pond for hunters. Hmm... one wonders what that might go for in a store?
• A ground USV golf caddy. This will show you how to make a rover follow a GPS tracker (in the form of the user's cell phone). This caddy is designed to move your clubs around the golf course without having to carry your bag, nor even tell the caddy where to go. It will simply follow you.