Real-Time Digital Simulator Design for Differential Drive Mobile Robot using FPGA

Abstract

This paper presents a real-time simulation of a differential drive mobile robot (DDMR). The permanent magnet DC motors that drive the robot’s left and right wheels were modeled and executed in real-time on a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA) based co-simulator platform, interfacing with the Webots robot simulator, which simulates the DDMR on the PC side. The electrical parameters, which are not available in robot simulators, were simulated and measured by the proposed co-simulator system in real-time under various environmental conditions and trajectories of the robot. Parameters such as current, voltage, and torque were measured instantaneously, enabling a more realistic simulation. Additionally, the cycle time of the robot simulator was determined to be 32 ms, and the developed FPGA-based simulation operated at approximately 2000 times the speed of the robot simulator. The results demonstrate the applicability of the developed platform in robotic applications.