CEVA Unveils MotionEngine Scout, a Dead Reckoning Software Solution for Indoor Autonomous Robots

March 29, 2021

News

CEVA unveiled the Hillcrest Labs MotionEngine Scout, a dead reckoning software solution for intelligent navigation systems in indoor robots, including robot cleaners and Autonomous Mobile Robots (AMR) used in industrial or commercial settings. 

MotionEngine Scout enables indoor autonomous robots, an industry that ABI Research expects to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 20% over the next 5 years, to achieve precise positioning without the need for expensive cameras or LiDAR for navigation. Instead, this sensor and processor agnostic embedded software solution fuses measurements taken from the robot’s optical flow sensor, wheel encoders, and Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and uses this data to deliver ideal dead reckoning accuracy and robustness against individual sensor errors. Per the company, MotionEngine Scout reduces the trajectory error by a factor of 5x in challenging scenarios, including surface flooring such as vinyl, tile, and various styles of carpet.

For robot OEMs, MotionEngine Scout is designed to simplify and accelerate the integration timeline by providing a single software package that interfaces with the IMU, optical flow sensor, and wheel encoders and provides an integrated sensor output with the unified robot pose (includes location and orientation in 3D space). It supports a range of commercial IMU sensors from suppliers, including STMicroelectronics, Bosch-Sensortec, and TDK InvenSense, to provide OEM’s with supply chain flexibility, per the company, reducing supply shortage risks and providing options for cost and performance tradeoffs. For the optical flow sensor, CEVA has partnered with PixArt to incorporate its PAA5101 dual-light optical tracking sensor into the solution to further reduce development complexity and time-to-market. 

MotionEngine Scout extends CEVA’s sensor product line for autonomous indoor robots which includes the following IMU-based solutions: MotionEngine Robotics software, FSP200 sensor hub, BNO086 system-in-package, and FSM300 module. CEVA also offers complementary IP products required for autonomous robots, including its RivieraWaves Bluetooth and Wi-Fi platforms for connectivity and its SensPro2 sensor hub DSP which is capable of handling multiple sensor processing workloads from sensors such as cameras, LiDAR, IMUs etc. 

MotionEngine Scout is available for evaluation today.

CEVA, together with PixArt will host a live webinar titled: “Spot-On Dead Reckoning for Indoor Autonomous Robots.” The webinar will take place on April 27th, 2021 at 11:00am U.S. Eastern / 08:00am U.S. Pacific and be available for on-demand viewing shortly after the live event. For more information and to register for the webinar, visit https://go.ceva-dsp.com/28-04-2021-Webinar-Dead-reckoning-navigation_LP.html. 

For more information, visit https://www.ceva-dsp.com/product/motionengine/ or  www.pixart.com.