Asee peer logo

Control System Integration for Automating an Electric Golf Cart

Download Paper |

Conference

2021 ASEE North Central Section Conference

Location

University of Toledo, Ohio

Publication Date

March 19, 2021

Start Date

March 19, 2021

End Date

March 20, 2021

Page Count

11

DOI

10.18260/1-2--36336

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/36336

Download Count

750

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

David T Delisle School of Engineering, Eastern Michigan University

visit author page

As a descendant from migrated Hispanics and being the first in my family to pursue a doctorate, I am dedicated towards academic achievement. I’m striving to make something of myself and produce research to better the world. In addition to my technical studies, I enjoy learning about culture, history, humanities, and numerous trade skills. My long term goals are to achieve a Ph.D. in the field of Electrical Engineering. Further, I aim to work with a renown university or automotive manufacturer to create the next generation of electric and autonomous vehicles.

visit author page

biography

Qin Hu School of Engineering, Eastern Michigan University Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-0223-8285

visit author page

Qin Hu received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China, and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA. She is currently an associate professor in the School of Engineering at Eastern Michigan University. Her main research interests have been in the area of numerical biophysics, therapeutic applications of electromagnetic fields, software engineering & development, and artificial intelligence. She has published numerous journal articles, conference papers and book chapters on her research.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

Millions of people lose their lives each year, due to traffic accidents. Autonomous vehicles could not only help prevent these accidents, but create a technological renaissance. It’s well known that autonomous cars are expected to be safer, more efficient, and the future of campus mobility. College students as a future workforce need to be prepared in these autonomous vehicle fields. Electric golf carts, with much simpler systems than a real car, are a perfect choice for education. The purpose of this project is to convert an electric Club Car golf cart into a test platform for deep learning algorithms. The deep learning algorithms for path planning/searching and self-driving will eventually lead to an autonomous golf cart that can navigate the campus of Eastern Michigan University. We will integrate peripheral sensors such as Lidar, GPS, IMUs, and control systems to the golf cart. The original golf cart’s mechanical chassis is the control system’s foundation. Sensors and control systems used to automate this golf cart will be built as an extension of the existing systems on the chassis. This paper will focus on the initial design considerations and process for converting the original golf cart into a remote-controlled transportation system. This work will be used for testing digital control of the golf cart’s steering, brake and acceleration systems. The paper will explore challenges and design constraints the team encounters during this process. In addition, environmental data collected from peripheral sensors, path planning and searching, lane detection, and power management will also be discussed.

Delisle, D. T., & Hu, Q. (2021, March), Control System Integration for Automating an Electric Golf Cart Paper presented at 2021 ASEE North Central Section Conference, University of Toledo, Ohio. 10.18260/1-2--36336

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2021 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015