MagNav: A Dual-Core Magnetic Track Guidance Framework for Lighting-Invariant Navigation in Two-Wheeled Robots

Engineering notes

Engineering notes will be added by the Robot Papers editorial team.

Chinese explanation / 中文解读

中文解读待补充：本站会优先为 VLA、具身智能、人形机器人控制、机器人操作等高价值论文补充中文说明。

Original abstract

Two-Wheeled Inverted Pendulum (TWIP) robots are useful for studying how to control systems that are naturally unstable and have fewer actuators than degrees of freedom. Adding autonomous line-following to these robots is challenging because steering and balancing are closely linked. Most existing systems use infrared sensors, which can be affected by changes in lighting, such as sunlight or shadows, making them reliable only indoors. This paper presents a self-balancing robot that can follow a line using a magnetic track guidance system. By using a five-channel analog Hall-effect sensor array, the robot is not affected by optical interference. The control system uses a cascaded PID structure: the inner loop keeps the robot balanced using data from an inertial measurement unit with a complementary filter, while the outer loop adjusts steering based on the magnetic sensor readings. Stepper motors provide precise torque control without needing extra rotary encoders. For comparison, an optical sensor module was also included. Tests show that the magnetic guidance system keeps accurate tracking even in very bright lighting, over 10,000 Lux, while the optical system loses accuracy and sometimes fails. This design provides a reliable, lighting-independent solution for autonomous navigation in places like factories, warehouses, and outdoor paths.

Links and sources

• Official / arXiv page
• PDF from original source

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