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This work presents a study over a torque-generated speed control of free wheel attached to a DC motor, for use on traction of mobile vehicles. Also, it presents the discrete state space model of a DC model and the Kalman filter's equations and applications. This work presents a hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) system for design of a torque controller noticed that this process produces a faster design, coding, and parameter optimization of any embedded systems. The hardware used for the implementation of the system is discussed as the hardware-in-the-loop environment which makes possible the fast tuning and design of the system. In the absence of a torque sensor, this work uses the Kalman filter's estimated states torque and speed as feedbacks of the system.

Methods to detect the position of the sun and orientate a solar panel to its position are used in order to optimize the power generated. Two possible approaches are using light depending resistor (LDR) sensors, or using a GPS and equations that model the geometry between the Earth and the Sun. The main objective of this work is the proposal of a prototype system to optimize the harvesting of solar energy on photovoltaic panels. In this chapter, a mobile robot powered by a solar panel orientated by a LDR matrix and a GPS device was developed. The LDRs were used as the representation of vectors normal to a surface, where its sum resulted in the most lighted point. The GPS, in turn, provided location, date and time data, which were used in the calculations of the Sun's azimuth and zenith, used to orientate the panel. The obtained results show that an orientated photovoltaic panel has a better performance when compared to a static panel. Possibilities and opportunities of research tend to grow for the next years with many possible works to be done in the future, both in mobile robotics and in other systems powered by photovoltaic panels.