Abstract
This article describes the design and development of an autonomous Electric Vehicle (EV) charging system. An autonomous EV charger can extend the effective range of autonomous EVs by enabling them to recharge without human intervention. The motivation behind the development of the system was to reduce costs compared to other autonomous EV chargers. As such, the system was developed using consumer grade IoT hardware instead of commercial robotic systems and controllers. The system employs a decentralized control architecture with Robot Operation System (ROS) as its backbone. This control architecture utilizes a Raspberry Pi single-board computer as the primary controller, a series of Arduino microcontrollers to interface with motion control, and a Nvidia Jetson vision processors to execute the necessary computation to allow the entire system to operate without the need of a dedicated computer or PLC. The control algorithm utilizes vision feedback and compliant mechanisms to compensate for the limited computational capabilities of the individual microcontrollers. The system was developed in a laboratory environment and once the system operated as intended, the system was tested on a production Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle (PHEV). Experiments were conducted to improve the control algorithm accuracy and decrease operating time. Overall, the system demonstrates the feasibility of using low-cost IoT hardware to develop an autonomous EV charging system, reducing the barrier to entry for the widespread adoption of autonomous EVs. The system represents an important step towards the goal of achieving sustainable and efficient transportation and opens up new possibilities for the future of electric vehicles.
