Auto-localização em pequenos robôs móveis e autónomos: o caso do robô Bulldozer IV

Abstract

This paper presents a low-cost self-localization system suitable for small mobile autonomous robots. This system was developed for the Bulldozer IV robot, which won the Micro-Rato 2001 contest. The system combines azimuth from an analog compass with odometry from an optical PC mouse and allows the robot, within an unknown maze, to return to the starting point after having reached a given goal. Concerning the performance in the referred contest, in 2 of 4 runs the robot succeeded in returning to the starting with less than 20cm error after a path with near 25m through static and dynamic obstacles. This paper presents a brief discussion on the techniques commonly used to provide the notion of self-localization in mobile autonomous robots. Then, the developed self-localization system is described, as well as its integration in the navigational system of the Bulldozer IV robot. Finally, a set of experimental results is presented that allow characterizing the performance of the navigational / self-localization system in terms of final distance between the stopping point and the starting point.