Control of an Autonomous Wheel Loader

This is the report of a thesis work about controlling an autonomous wheel loader. The objective of the work was to create a complete prototype of an autonomous wheel loader that can operate without any seated driver and without any kind of remote controlling. Another important objective was that this prototype needs to support future development of the autonomous wheel loader. The work was completed within the time frame and a structured method of development was used to develop the prototype machine. The work began with an investigation about what is needed on an autonomous wheel loader and why. This helped improve the support of future development of the prototype wheel loader. After the investigation was done a design was made about how to control the wheel loader autonomously. This design included which computers to use and how to integrate the new computers with the existing system on the wheel loader. When the design was finished the implementation began, which included programming, Simulink model design, installing new systems on the prototype wheel loader etc. Lastly everything that was designed and implemented was verified. The prototype of the autonomous wheel loader was demonstrated with a short cycle while using all its functions as a wheel loader. Since the autonomous functions had been implemented the demonstration was very easy to implement by simply programming it to use its different functions in order.