Robotic Navigation (Unity)

Role

Developer - University Project (Robotics / Self-Driving Simulation)

Project Summary

This coursework project focused on building an autonomous controller for a simulated robot in Unity. The objective was to navigate changing tracks with obstacles using only the provided sensors and wheel systems, without hard-coding a fixed route.

Assignment Constraints

• Edited only RobotController.cs (no model parameter changes).
• Used only the required sensors:
  • RaycastSensorFront
  • RaycastSensorLeft
  • RaycastSensorRight
  • EulerAnglesSensor
• Used only the required wheel systems:
  • WheelColliderFrontLeft, WheelColliderFrontRight, WheelColliderBackLeft, WheelColliderBackRight
  • TransformWheelFrontLeft, TransformWheelFrontRight, TransformWheelBackLeft, TransformWheelBackRight
• Implemented the controller around Start() and FixedUpdate() for reliable physics updates.

Controller Approach

• Built a multi-ray clearance scan for front/left/right sensors with horizontal and vertical spread.
• Used obstacle distance to compute steering direction and turn intensity.
• Applied dynamic speed logic based on steering load and target speed.
• Added hill compensation using EulerAnglesSensor to avoid underpowering on angled surfaces.
• Applied motor torque, steering angle, and brake torque through WheelColliders.
• Synced visual wheel transforms with collider poses each physics step.

Demo Video

The run duration in this recording is 19.94 seconds. The video is played at normal speed (1x) and is not accelerated; this completion time reflects the controller performance.

Key Outcomes

• Delivered a reusable sensor-based controller that adapts to track variation.
• Achieved autonomous path following with obstacle avoidance behavior in simulation.
• Demonstrated full run output with a start-to-finish screen recording for assessment.

Skills

• Robotics
• Autonomous Navigation
• Unity
• C#
• WheelCollider Physics
• Sensor-based Control Systems