ENGINEERINGNET.EU -- It seems that a new generation of high-tech helpers is at hand: mobile robots are being used in place of humans to explore hazardous and difficult-to-access environments such as buildings in danger of collapsing, caves, or ground that has been polluted by an industrial accident.
There’s just one problem: often there is no map to show them the location of obstacles and steer them along navigable routes.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute in Karlsruhe have now developed a roaming land robot that autonomously reconnoiters and maps uncharted terrain. The robot uses special algorithms and multi-sensor data to carve a path through unknown territory.
To make this possible, engineer Christian Frey and his team have developed an algorithm toolbox for the robot that runs on a built-in computer.
The robot is additionally equipped with a variety of sensors. Odometry sensors measure wheel revolutions, inertial sensors compute accelerations, and distance-measuring sensors register clearance from walls, steps, trees and bushes, to name but a few potential obstacles.
Cameras and laser scanners record the environment and assist in the mapping process.
The algorithms read the various data supplied by the sensors and use them to determine the robot’s precise location. The interplay of all these different elements concurrently produces a map, which is updated continuously. Experts call the process Simultaneous Localization and Mapping, or SLAM.
