I’m working on a small indoor mobile robot designed to navigate around a house or workshop without relying on a predefined path. The main idea is to build something relatively inexpensive using a Raspberry Pi or similar SBC as the main computer, a microcontroller for low-level motor control, wheel encoders, and a 2D LiDAR sensor for distance measurements. The robot should be able to create a basic map of its surroundings and use that map to decide where it can safely move. I’m trying to keep the hardware simple enough that the project can eventually be replicated without expensive robotics equipment.

The mechanical side is a two-wheel differential-drive chassis with a small caster wheel at the front or rear. Each drive motor has an encoder so I can estimate wheel movement and calculate the robot’s odometry. The motor controller is connected to a microcontroller, while the Raspberry Pi handles higher-level navigation.