WHEELTEC 3D Vision Developer Kit for ROS

The WHEELTEC 3D Vision Developer Kit for ROS is an advanced mobile robot development platform designed for students, educators, and researchers in robotics. Built on a versatile Mecanum wheel chassis, this kit integrates powerful dual-controller processing and 3D vision capabilities to streamline ROS learning and application development. It offers a complete hardware and software environment for exploring autonomous navigation, mapping, and robotic manipulation.

Integrated mobile manipulation platform

The ORBBOT S1 features a robust mobile chassis equipped with a multi-DOF robotic arm and an elevated depth camera mount. This physical layout is optimised for 3D vision-guided manipulation, mapping, and navigation tasks.

Detailed technical specifications

The comprehensive specification sheet outlines the robot's physical dimensions of 282 by 242 by 544.5 mm and a self-weight of 5.96 kg. It details the complete hardware configuration, power efficiency, and software stack required for advanced ROS development.

Omnidirectional Mecanum drive system

The chassis utilises four 75 mm aluminium alloy Mecanum wheels with a pendulum-style suspension system for smooth traversal. Driven by MG513 motors with photoelectric encoders, the platform achieves a maximum speed of 1.25 m/s.

Dual controller processing power

Computing is split between an STM32F407VET6 primary controller running FreeRTOS for real-time motor control and a Jetson Nano 4GB running Ubuntu 18.04 with ROS Melodic for high-level tasks. This architecture ensures reliable low-level execution alongside powerful high-level processing.

Advanced spatial sensing

The kit is equipped with an Astra Pro RGBD depth camera and a 360-degree laser ranging Lidar for precise mapping and obstacle avoidance. An onboard ICM20948 IMU provides 9-axis motion tracking, combining a 3-axis gyroscope, 3-axis accelerometer, and 3-axis magnetometer.

Power and payload capacity

With a maximum payload capacity of 2.8 kg, the developer kit is highly expandable. The onboard battery provides up to 3.5 hours of continuous operation under light loads, or 3 hours when carrying a 1 kg payload at a speed of 0.45 m/s.