SinusLeistungsSteller - Outdoor MERLIN 10.11.2007


Outdoor MERLIN of the University of Würzburg


As part of a research project, the Steinbeis Transferzentrum ARS in collaboration with the Julius-Maximilian-Universität Würzburg under the direction of Prof. Klaus Schilling developed a autonomous or semi-autonomous driving robot named Outdoor MERLIN. It is used (e.g. by fire departments) to explore dangerous terrain. For this the vehicle platform can be equipped with cameras and a varity of sensors (tilt, ulatrasonic, thermal, GPS, etc.). Over a powerful WLAN-connection the 4-wheel driven vehicle can be controlled via live-video from an operator, who is supported by several driving assistance systems.




Annually, all european teams working on such robots meet, to compete with their different concepts in form of a sport contest. For this years C-ELROB, which took place in Switzerland in August, the Outdoor MERLIN was equipped for the first time with a SinusLeistungsSteller and was once again able to enter the top of the winners list.

We congratulate the team for this success:




The drive-dynamic properties needed for this competition (such as the precise maneuverabilty during slowest driving, the safe stopping and starting on steep slopes), economical use of the battery power and last but not least the robustness against the prevailing poor environmental condition, was improved significantly with the use of the SLS compared to previous versions of the Outdoor MERLIN.





Of course we wish Daniel Eck's team much success with the upcoming contests. The new improved model is already in work - so the other participants need to prepare themselves once again ;-)...




(Many thanks to Daniel for the images, shown here!)