A global and local robot tracking and control strategy using multisensory inputs

A dual phase robot tracking and control strategy is proposed where a global trajectory of the robot is initially estimated in phase one using absolute location information provided by fixed, "far-away" sensors and then in phase two, a fine-motion reactive tracker is invoked to compensate for the local deviations about the globally estimated trajectory from phase one. This dual phase tracking strategy reduces both the tracking error and the capture time of the target by the robot, compared to the operation of either mode of tracking (global or local) independently. The sensory information provided by the multiple sensors, disparate or redundant, is fused together to increase the reliability of the system.<<ETX>>