A Biologically-Inspired Algorithm for Gas / Odor Source Localization in an Indoor Environment with no Strong Airflow : First Experimental Results

.Abstract – This paper describes the design of a biologicallyinspired SPIRAL (Searching Pollutant Iterative Rounding ALgorithm) algorithm, for the localization of a gas source in an indoor environment with no strong airflow. Such environment shows a few aspects that make the issue of finding an odor source much harder than in the presence of a strong wind. In fact, in a windless room, the gas diffusion mechanism is strongly perturbed by convection flows and turbulence, which make gas distribution very complex. Moreover, the algorithms used for gas source localization with no predominant airflow cannot exploit the upwind surge movement, usually exploited in traditional algorithms. We discuss the results of SPIRAL implemented on a robotic platform, called MOMO (Multirobots for Odor MOnitoring). Tests show that SPIRAL algorithm localizes a gas source with good results, by using only one gas sensor, and without either referring to anemometers or to any information about wind distribution.

[1]  E. A. Arbas,et al.  Organization of goal-oriented locomotion: pheromone-modulated flight behavior of moths , 1993 .

[2]  Tom Duckett,et al.  Experimental analysis of smelling Braitenberg vehicles , 2003 .

[3]  Eric D. Siggia,et al.  Scalar turbulence , 2000, Nature.

[4]  J Atema,et al.  Eddy Chemotaxis and Odor Landscapes: Exploration of Nature With Animal Sensors. , 1996, The Biological bulletin.

[5]  Frank W. Grasso,et al.  Biomimetic robot lobster performs chemo-orientation in turbulence using a pair of spatially separated sensors: Progress and challenges , 2000, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[6]  Rodney M. Goodman,et al.  Distributed odor source localization , 2002 .

[7]  Christodoulos Lytridis,et al.  A systematic approach to the problem of odour source localisation , 2006, Auton. Robots.

[8]  Jay A. Farrell,et al.  Moth-inspired chemical plume tracing on an autonomous underwater vehicle , 2006, IEEE Transactions on Robotics.

[9]  B. Mazzolai,et al.  A Biologically-Inspired Algorithm Implemented on a new Highly Flexible Multi-Agent Platform for Gas Source Localization , 2006, The First IEEE/RAS-EMBS International Conference on Biomedical Robotics and Biomechatronics, 2006. BioRob 2006..

[10]  Ron Goodman,et al.  An Autonomous Water Vapor Plume Tracking Robot Using Passive Resistive Polymer Sensors , 2000, Auton. Robots.

[11]  David V. Thiel,et al.  A robotic system to locate hazardous chemical leaks , 1995, Proceedings of 1995 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[12]  Alessandro Saffiotti,et al.  Learning to locate an odour source with a mobile robot , 2001, Proceedings 2001 ICRA. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.01CH37164).

[13]  T. Moriizumi,et al.  Controlling a gas/odor plume-tracking robot based on transient responses of gas sensors , 2002, Proceedings of IEEE Sensors.

[14]  Gebräuchliche Fertigarzneimittel,et al.  V , 1893, Therapielexikon Neurologie.

[15]  Tom Duckett,et al.  Building gas concentration gridmaps with a mobile robot , 2003, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[16]  J. H. Belanger,et al.  Biologically-inspired search algorithms for locating unseen odor sources , 1998, Proceedings of the 1998 IEEE International Symposium on Intelligent Control (ISIC) held jointly with IEEE International Symposium on Computational Intelligence in Robotics and Automation (CIRA) Intell.

[17]  R. Cardé,et al.  Insect Pheromone Research: New Directions , 1997 .

[18]  Hiroshi Ishida,et al.  Mobile robot navigation using vision and olfaction to search for a gas/odor source , 2004, 2004 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) (IEEE Cat. No.04CH37566).

[19]  Lino Marques,et al.  Olfaction-based mobile robot navigation , 2002 .

[20]  Giulio Sandini,et al.  Gradient driven self-organizing systems , 1993, Proceedings of 1993 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS '93).

[21]  Andreas Zell,et al.  Gas Source Tracing with a Mobile Robot Using an Adapted Moth Strategy , 2003, AMS.

[22]  Andreas Zell,et al.  Sensing odour sources in indoor environments without a constant airflow by a mobile robot , 2001, Proceedings 2001 ICRA. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation (Cat. No.01CH37164).