Development of an autonomous wheeled robot for efficient photovoltaic panel cleaning

Development of an autonomous wheeled robot for efficient photovoltaic panel cleaning | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Development of an autonomous wheeled robot for efficient photovoltaic panel cleaning Imen Hassani, Chokri Rekik, Yasser Almalaq, Mansoor Alturki, Abdullah Albaker, and 2 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9193009/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 10 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Cleaning tasks are widely considered one of the mostrelevant applications in the robotics field. This results from thesubstitution of human workers with robots in basic and variousapplications for cleaning tasks like houses, hospitals, industries,etc. Currently, cleaning photovoltaic (PV) panels are getting greatattention in industry sectors because the industrial applicationsuse the solar panel as an electrical power source. Therefore, asignificant engineering challenge in a PV power generation iscleaning the PV panels, as the accumulation of dust and dirt ontheir surface reduces the performance of the PV system. The coreconcept of this work is to propose a navigation method based onthe control points algorithm for wheeled mobile robots to dealwith path planning. Then, a genetic algorithm is used to overcometwo main problems of optimization, which are: the optimizationof control points and the optimization of mobile robot trajectory,therefore, finding the optimal path. Furthermore, a robust controlstrategy known as sliding mode control is introduced to ensurethe stabilization of an autonomous mobile robot while followinga desired trajectory. Finally, simulation results are presented todemonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed method. Physical sciences/Energy science and technology Physical sciences/Engineering Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing Mobile robot photovoltaic panels path planning trajectory optimization Genetic algorithm trajectory tracking sliding mode algorithm Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted Reviews received at journal 18 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 09 May, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 30 Apr, 2026 Reviews received at journal 10 Apr, 2026 Reviewers agreed at journal 30 Mar, 2026 Reviewers invited by journal 30 Mar, 2026 Editor invited by journal 29 Mar, 2026 Editor assigned by journal 24 Mar, 2026 Submission checks completed at journal 24 Mar, 2026 First submitted to journal 22 Mar, 2026 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9193009","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":614911354,"identity":"a61a70e8-4777-4518-aeef-f74380a85789","order_by":0,"name":"Imen Hassani","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Sfax","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Imen","middleName":"","lastName":"Hassani","suffix":""},{"id":614911359,"identity":"50d61cfb-1a0d-4a5d-baff-77e90c1f5c2b","order_by":1,"name":"Chokri Rekik","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA2klEQVRIie3RsQrCMBCA4SsBXSJZIwh9hZOCUCj0WUpBF0VHB4dIQJe6V3wZ5aBTwdWhgyA4OzqIGBXBqa2bQ/4lt3zcQQBstn9MAgNAM3BHw8U8vxEnfRFWhzzjwNh7RQURG03edAJjwUl7wbTouEpkx9IlRRZHOYK/Xs11PMzPHLesiWUE5dDbKQTEvaNptCCOwBqyFgmfxL8Td1UNEr22tMxhjiIO2woiD/24q1CizHe6m2TmMGK9UiLSmNrqFqBIBid5nVHoLufnUvJZ9jVX/aTNZrPZqnsAlHg929PTQk4AAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"","institution":"University of Sfax","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Chokri","middleName":"","lastName":"Rekik","suffix":""},{"id":614911371,"identity":"6dd0c786-5eea-411f-a3c2-64e04e4f10bd","order_by":2,"name":"Yasser Almalaq","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Ha’il, Ha’il 55476","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Yasser","middleName":"","lastName":"Almalaq","suffix":""},{"id":614911377,"identity":"d367cf0d-5364-4131-bba3-91659f7c105b","order_by":3,"name":"Mansoor Alturki","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Ha’il, Ha’il 55476","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Mansoor","middleName":"","lastName":"Alturki","suffix":""},{"id":614911380,"identity":"f16aae5a-7639-47d6-a1c5-94636e268d51","order_by":4,"name":"Abdullah Albaker","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Ha’il, Ha’il 55476","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Abdullah","middleName":"","lastName":"Albaker","suffix":""},{"id":614911382,"identity":"1d8c881a-6714-48d5-8152-00518db2062a","order_by":5,"name":"Badr M. Alshammari","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Ha’il, Ha’il 55476","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Badr","middleName":"M.","lastName":"Alshammari","suffix":""},{"id":614911384,"identity":"31e8131e-148b-4ff2-8c21-1d3f8207578b","order_by":6,"name":"Tawfik Guesmi","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"University of Ha’il, Ha’il 55476","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Tawfik","middleName":"","lastName":"Guesmi","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-22 17:53:45","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9193009/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9193009/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105937428,"identity":"b116e023-49b2-4bfd-81e3-ecde8fbc84fb","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-01 15:13:13","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":398861,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"paper2026.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9193009/v1_covered_cc886f18-400d-4d15-8c6b-b1738a7db671.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Development of an autonomous wheeled robot for efficient photovoltaic panel cleaning","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Mobile robot, photovoltaic panels, path planning, trajectory optimization, Genetic algorithm, trajectory tracking, sliding mode algorithm","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9193009/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9193009/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eCleaning tasks are widely considered one of the mostrelevant applications in the robotics field. This results from thesubstitution of human workers with robots in basic and variousapplications for cleaning tasks like houses, hospitals, industries,etc. Currently, cleaning photovoltaic (PV) panels are getting greatattention in industry sectors because the industrial applicationsuse the solar panel as an electrical power source. Therefore, asignificant engineering challenge in a PV power generation iscleaning the PV panels, as the accumulation of dust and dirt ontheir surface reduces the performance of the PV system. The coreconcept of this work is to propose a navigation method based onthe control points algorithm for wheeled mobile robots to dealwith path planning. Then, a genetic algorithm is used to overcometwo main problems of optimization, which are: the optimizationof control points and the optimization of mobile robot trajectory,therefore, finding the optimal path. Furthermore, a robust controlstrategy known as sliding mode control is introduced to ensurethe stabilization of an autonomous mobile robot while followinga desired trajectory. Finally, simulation results are presented todemonstrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed method.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Development of an autonomous wheeled robot for efficient photovoltaic panel cleaning","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-04-01 15:12:36","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9193009/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-05-18T20:29:14+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"41874887423220618329409003492117282490","date":"2026-05-09T14:07:43+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"3438195538021720016751338918135619484","date":"2026-04-30T12:40:24+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-04-11T02:08:58+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"291811912667041375035103435676610058548","date":"2026-03-31T01:29:56+00:00","index":"hide","fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewersInvited","content":"","date":"2026-03-31T01:27:44+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvited","content":"","date":"2026-03-29T13:46:50+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorAssigned","content":"","date":"2026-03-24T08:43:17+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"checksComplete","content":"","date":"2026-03-24T08:42:28+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"submitted","content":"Scientific Reports","date":"2026-03-22T17:37:33+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"417f7dde-0397-4c0b-96bf-11d357ffb70b","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 1st, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"","date":"2026-05-18T20:29:14+00:00","index":79,"fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"41874887423220618329409003492117282490","date":"2026-05-09T14:07:43+00:00","index":78,"fulltext":""},{"type":"reviewerAgreed","content":"3438195538021720016751338918135619484","date":"2026-04-30T12:40:24+00:00","index":71,"fulltext":""}],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":65428742,"name":"Physical sciences/Energy science and technology"},{"id":65428743,"name":"Physical sciences/Engineering"},{"id":65428744,"name":"Physical sciences/Mathematics and computing"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-04-01T15:12:36+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-04-01 15:12:36","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9193009","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9193009","identity":"rs-9193009","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}