Robot with perception capability of livestock and poultry information and mapping approach based on autonomous navigation

A robot with perception capability of livestock and poultry information based on autonomous navigation, the robot comprising a four-wheeled vehicle (3), an elevating platform (7) located above the four-wheeled vehicle (3), and an autonomous navigation system, a motion module and an information acquisition module, three of which are installed on the four-wheeled vehicle (3), wherein:

• the autonomous navigation system comprises a light detection and ranging (LiDAR) (10) for obtaining information about surrounding environment, a red-green-blue-depth (RGB-D) camera (9), an inertial measurement unit (5), an odometer and a main control module (12) for information processing and control, wherein:
• the LiDAR (10), the RGB-D camera (9), the inertial measurement unit (5), the odometer and the main control module (12) are fixed to the four-wheeled vehicle (3);
• the LiDAR (10), the RGB-D camera (9), the inertial measurement unit (5) and the odometer are connected with the main control module (12);
• the motion module comprises a direct current (DC) motor unit (1) for controlling the robot to move forward, a push-rod motor unit (4) for controlling up and down movement of the elevating platform (7), and a microcontroller (2) for controlling a rotational speed and a rotational direction of the DC motor unit (1) and the push-rod motor unit (4), wherein:
• the DC motor unit (1) comprises four DC motors (17) installed at four corners of a bottom portion of the four-wheeled vehicle (3), respectively;
• four output shafts (16) of the four DC motors (17) are connected with four wheels (15) at the four corners of the bottom portion of the four-wheeled vehicle (3), respectively;
• the push-rod motor unit (4) comprises two push-rod motors (14) fixed to a top of the four-wheeled vehicle (3);
• two output ends of the push-rod motor unit (4) are connected with the elevating platform (7) for driving the elevating platform (7) to move up and down;
• the information acquisition module comprises two thermal imagers (6) for collecting animal behavior information, an environmental detection sensor module (8) for collecting environmental information and a wireless transmission module (11) for data transmission, wherein the two thermal imagers (6) are disposed at two sides of a bottom of the elevating platform (7), respectively;
• the environmental detection sensor module (8) is disposed on the elevating platform (7).