KITCHENER, Ontario – Clearpath Robotics today announced the Dingo Indoor Research Robot, a compact, lightweight and cost-effective indoor robotic platform aimed to accelerate robotics research and education. The company was showing Dingo at this week’s International Conference for Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) in Macau.

Dingo will be offered in two drive configurations – differential and omnidirectional – making it suitable for several indoor robotics applications that range from autonomous navigation, mobile manipulation, and mapping. The design and its accompanying tutorials make it ideal for classroom and lab teaching, Clearpath said.

“Dingo offers the reliability and flexibility our customers expect from a Clearpath robot, at an approachable price point,” said Julian Ware, general manager at Clearpath Robotics. “We have seen a gap in the market for a system with these capabilities and believe Dingo is an affordable, ROS-ready indoor platform suitable for benchtop and laboratory testing. The lower cost also makes the use of multi-robot systems more accessible than with other robots.”

Modular focus

With a focus on modularity, Dingo will launch with several computing options, as well as the ability to greatly upgrade battery power, letting users customize the robot to their specific application, Clearpath said. The robot can reach speeds up to 1.3 meters per second, and carry payloads up to 20 kg. The system also includes wheel encoders, programmable front-facing LED lights and a payload mounting system, as well as tool-less access to user power and communication ports for integrating sensors, manipulators, and other third-party hardware.

Like other Clearpath mobile robots, the company said Dingo comes with the Robot Operating System (ROS) preconfigured and a Gazebo simulation model, which lets researchers get started quickly with existing research, and widely available open-source ROS libraries.