5/6/2004
11:00am-12:00pm
ECOT 831
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Topological Exploration and Mapping using Sensing-limited Robots
Wes Huang
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
The basic ability to explore, map, and subsequently navigate through an unknown
environment is a fundamental problem in mobile robotics. Many applications,
such as hazard assessment for a contaminated building, call for cooperative
teams of small, inexpensive (and therefore potentially disposable) robots.
To this end, we are developing algorithms to explore, create, and merge maps
for robots with limited sensing capabilities -- our prototype hardware uses
only five short range (10-80 cm) infrared range sensors. This talk will present
some of our most recent results on this problem.
Our approach uses topological maps defined in terms of robot behaviors,
primarily hall-following and wall-following. The two main contributions of this
work are an extension of topological maps for mapping open areas, long
considered a deficiency, and an evidence-based approach (using Dempster-Shafer
theory) to the problem of "closing the loop" in a map. We also address merging
two topological maps for robots without a common reference frame. Our approach
is a combination of maximal subgraph matching and image registration techniques.
I will present experimental results, both from simulations and on our robot
hardware.
Hosted by Gregory Grudic.
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