Localization of fast mobile robots based on an advanced angle-measurement technique

Abstract This paper is concerned with the absolute localization of mobile robots, which are equipped with an onboard device performing angular measurements on the location of known but mutually indistinguishable landmarks. Novel algorithms are proposed, 1. for efficient posture initialization based on a simple linear solution scheme, and 2. for purposes of recursive posture estimation. Derived within a settheoretic framework, the algorithms cope with nonwhite, non-Gaussian noise and deterministic errors. A typical application, localizing a floor-inspection robot on a long-range inspection mission, is used to demonstrate the implementation and performance of the proposed posture estimator.

[1]  Federico Thomas,et al.  Set membership approach to the propagation of uncertain geometric information , 1991, Proceedings. 1991 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[2]  Margrit Betke,et al.  Mobile robot localization using landmarks , 1994, Proceedings of IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS'94).

[3]  Gregory D. Hager,et al.  Real-time vision-based robot localization , 1993, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

[4]  William B. Thompson,et al.  Localizing in unstructured environments: dealing with the errors , 1994, IEEE Trans. Robotics Autom..

[5]  Günther Schmidt,et al.  Path planning and guidance techniques for an autonomous mobile cleaning robot , 1995, Robotics Auton. Syst..

[6]  Michael Drumheller,et al.  Mobile Robot Localization Using Sonar , 1987, IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence.

[7]  Kalevi Hyyppä,et al.  AGV navigation by angle measurements , 1988 .

[8]  Fred C. Schweppe,et al.  Uncertain dynamic systems , 1973 .

[9]  J. R. Deller,et al.  Linear prediction analysis of speech based on set-membership theory , 1989 .

[10]  Uwe D. Hanebeck,et al.  On combining set theoretic and Bayesian estimation , 1996, Proceedings of IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[11]  Uwe D. Hanebeck,et al.  A new high Performance Multisonar System for Fast Mobile Robot Applications , 1994, IROS.

[12]  Toshihiro Tsumura,et al.  A 3-D position and attitude measurement system using laser scanners and corner cubes , 1993, Proceedings of 1993 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS '93).

[13]  W. Eric L. Grimson,et al.  Recognition and localization of overlapping parts from sparse data in two and three dimensions , 1985, Proceedings. 1985 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.