Algorithms and sensors for small robot path following

Tracked mobile robots in the 20 kg size class are under development for applications in urban reconnaissance. For efficient deployment, it is desirable for teams of robots to be able to automatically execute path following behaviors, with one or more followers tracking the path taken by a leader. The key challenges to enabling such a capability are (1) to develop sensor packages for such small robots that can accurately determine the path of the leader and (2) to develop path following algorithms for the subsequent robots. To date, we have integrated gyros, accelerometers, compass/inclinometers, odometry, and differential GPS into an effective sensing package. The paper describes the sensor package, sensor processing algorithm and path tracking algorithm we have developed for the leader/follower problem in small robots and shows the results of performance characterization of the system. We also document pragmatic lessons learned about design, construction, and electromagnetic interference issues particular to the performance of state sensors on small robots.

[1]  J. Stuelpnagel.  On the Parametrization of the Three-Dimensional Rotation Group , 1964 .

[2]  R. Farrenkopf.  Analytic Steady-State Accuracy Solutions for Two Common Spacecraft Attitude Estimators , 1978 .

[3]  E. J. Lefferts,et al.  Kalman Filtering for Spacecraft Attitude Estimation , 1982 .

[4]  Charles E. Thorpe,et al.  Integrated mobile robot control , 1991 .

[5]  Nasser Kehtarnavaz,et al.  Visual control of an autonomous vehicle (BART)-the vehicle-following problem , 1991 .

[6]  Phillip J. McKerrow,et al.  Introduction to robotics , 1991 .

[7]  Ben Motazed.  Measure of the accuracy of navigational sensors for autonomous path tracking , 1994, Other Conferences.

[8]  Alonzo Kelly.  A Feedforward Control Approach to the Local Navigation Problem for Autonomous Vehicles , 1994 .

[9]  K. Murphy.  ANALYSIS OF ROBOTIC VEHICLE STEERING AND CONTROLLER DELAY , 1994 .

[10]  Karl Johan Åström,et al.  PID Controllers: Theory, Design, and Tuning , 1995 .

[11]  Aníbal Ollero,et al.  Stability analysis of mobile robot path tracking , 1995, Proceedings 1995 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Human Robot Interaction and Cooperative Robots.

[12]  Eric Krotkov,et al.  Dead reckoning for a lunar rover on uneven terrain , 1996, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[13]  Philippe Bonnifait,et al.  A multisensor localization algorithm for mobile robots and its real-time experimental validation , 1996, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[14]  Carl D. Crane,et al.  Evaluating a PID, pure pursuit, and weighted steering controller for an autonomous land vehicle , 1998, Other Conferences.

[15]  Gaurav S. Sukhatme,et al.  Circumventing dynamic modeling: evaluation of the error-state Kalman filter applied to mobile robot localization , 1999, Proceedings 1999 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.99CH36288C).

[16]  Stergios I. Roumeliotis,et al.  Robust mobile robot localization: from single-robot uncertainties to multi-robot interdependencies , 2000 .

[17]  Stergios I. Roumeliotis,et al.  Sensors and algorithms for small robot leader/follower behavior , 2001, SPIE Defense + Commercial Sensing.

[18]  Gaurav S. Sukhatme,et al.  A portable, autonomous, urban reconnaissance robot , 2000, Robotics Auton. Syst..