Clearpath Jackal

It provides students with an experience like our teaching robot, but with enhanced sensors and a more industrial scale providing students with equipment they would find industry.

The Jackal has a rugged aluminium and a 4x4 drive train coupled with IP62 weather proofing and a and is rated to operate from -20 Celsius or +45 Celsius, highlighting how robotics can often be used to solve real world problem in environment that can be hazardous or impossible for humans to operate in.

At Loughborough we have specified our Jackals with a set of sensors to provide access to classic robotics problems such as perception, mapping and localisation while also providing the capability to perform onboard AI. This can be achieved using the following attached sensors:

• Velodyne VLP-16 3D LiDAR
• Zed2i Stereo Camera
• Mini-ITX Performance Computer with a Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU

To enhance this robotics experience further the added Kinova Gen3 Lite manipulator arm attached to the robot allows this to be used for pick and place tasks, where the robot can pick up an item and move this to another location. This task is commonly found within industry in many warehouses and used for outdoor activities such as fruit picking.

We have had similar processes for both the QT Robots and the Clearpath Jackal.

First, we have had to learn the hardware and software associated. These pieces of kit come with specific software bundles that we haven’t used before, which allow us to learn how it goes together.

After that, we have been liaising with IT Services to make sure the infrastructure is in place for teaching, so they know what is required (as the robots rely on wireless network).

Finally, we have been liaising with academics for including it in their modules. Our team will document the setup, create instructions and ask them how they see it integrating with their modules. We will work together to develop this with the academics so we can use the technologies in our teaching.

The Clearpath Jackal is a level up on the robots we have currently. It is better equipped and more robust to be used on indoor and outdoor terrain. The manipulator arm can pick and drop items which can provide a simulation for real world problems (such as warehouse tasks) and has an upgraded sensor on the teaching robots we currently use.