A Parametric Alternative to Grids for Occupancy-Based World Modeling

In the paper, we consider an occupancy-based approach for range data fusion, as it is used in mobile robotics. We tackle the major problem of this approach, which is the redundancy of stored and processed data caused by using the grid representation of the occupancy function, by proposing a parametric piece-wise linear representation. When applied to vision-based world exploration, the new representation is shown to have advantages, which include its suitability for radial range data, its e ciency in representing and fusing range data, and its convenience for navigation map extraction. The proposed technique is implemented on a mobile robot, Boticelli. The results obtained from running the robot are pre-

[1]  Francois Blais,et al.  A MOBILE SYSTEM FOR INDOORS 3-D MAPPING AND POSITIONING1 , 1997 .

[2]  Ben J. A. Kröse,et al.  Neural Network Applications in Sensor Fusion for an Autonomous Mobile Robot , 1995, Reasoning with Uncertainty in Robotics.

[3]  Alan C. Schultz,et al.  Mobile robot exploration and map-building with continuous localization , 1998, Proceedings. 1998 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.98CH36146).

[4]  D.O. Gorodnichy.  On using regression for range data fusion , 1999, Engineering Solutions for the Next Millennium. 1999 IEEE Canadian Conference on Electrical and Computer Engineering (Cat. No.99TH8411).

[5]  Wolfram Burgard,et al.  The Mobile Robot Rhino , 1995, SNN Symposium on Neural Networks.

[6]  Hobart R. Everett,et al.  Mobile robot positioning: Sensors and techniques , 1997, J. Field Robotics.

[7]  W. W. Armstrong,et al.  Single Camera Stereo for Mobile Robot World Exploration , 1999 .

[8]  Richard S. Sutton,et al.  Reinforcement Learning: An Introduction , 1998, IEEE Trans. Neural Networks.

[9]  Sebastian Thrun,et al.  An approach to learning mobile robot navigation , 1995, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[10]  Hans P. Moravec,et al.  Robot Evidence Grids. , 1996 .

[11]  Leo Dorst,et al.  Reasoning with Uncertainty in Robotics , 1996, Lecture Notes in Computer Science.

[12]  Hugh F. Durrant-Whyte,et al.  An Evidential Approach to Probabilistic Map-Building , 1995, Reasoning with Uncertainty in Robotics.

[13]  Clément Gosselin,et al.  Probabilistic octree modeling of a 3D dynamic environment , 1997, Proceedings of International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[14]  Don Ray Murray,et al.  Stereo vision based mapping and navigation for mobile robots , 1997, Proceedings of International Conference on Robotics and Automation.