Optical guidance system for multiple mobile robots

This paper describes our research work towards the development of an optical guidance system for multiple mobile robots in an indoor environment. The guidance system operates with an environment model, communicates with mobile robots and indicates their target positions by means of a light projection from a laser pointer onto the ground. Processing the image data from a CCD color camera mounted on the mobile robot allows it to detect the laser light beacon on the ground and estimate its relative coordinates. The robot's control system ensures the accurate motion of the robot to the indicated target position. The guidance system subsequently indicates target positions corresponding to a desired route for a specified mobile robot in the fleet. The concept of the optical guidance system, its implementation and experimental results obtained are discussed.

[1]  Hajime Asama,et al.  A multi-robot teleoperation system utilizing the Internet , 1996, Adv. Robotics.

[2]  Joseph N. Wilson,et al.  Handbook of computer vision algorithms in image algebra , 1996 .

[3]  Martial Hebert.  Active and passive range sensing for robotics , 2000, Proceedings 2000 ICRA. Millennium Conference. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Symposia Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37065).

[4]  Christopher C. Yang,et al.  Optimized Sensor Placement for Active Visual Inspection , 2001 .

[5]  I. E. Paromtchik,et al.  Reactive Motion Control for an Omnidirectional Mobile Robot , 1995 .

[6]  Yoshikazu Arai,et al.  Adaptive behavior acquisition of collision avoidance among multiple autonomous mobile robots , 1997, Proceedings of the 1997 IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robot and Systems. Innovative Robotics for Real-World Applications. IROS '97.

[7]  Jun Ota,et al.  Development of a Multiple Mobile Robot System Controlled by a Human Realization of Object Command Level , 2000, DARS.

[8]  Liqiang Feng,et al.  Navigating Mobile Robots: Systems and Techniques , 1996 .

[9]  Akihiro Matsumoto,et al.  Development of an omni-directional mobile robot with 3 DOF decoupling drive mechanism , 1995, Proceedings of 1995 IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation.

[10]  Yasuharu Kunii,et al.  Self-diagnosis System of an Autonomous Mobile Robot Using Sensory Information , 2000, J. Robotics Mechatronics.

[11]  Hajime Asama,et al.  A motion generation approach for an omnidirectional vehicle , 2000, Proceedings 2000 ICRA. Millennium Conference. IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation. Symposia Proceedings (Cat. No.00CH37065).