Navigating Mobile Robots: Systems and Techniques

Abstract

This is a survey of the state-of-the-art in sensors, systems, methods and technologies utilized by a mobile robot to determine its position in the environment. The many potential solutions are roughly categorized into two groups: relative and absolute position measurements. The first includes odometry and inertial navigation; the second comprises active beacons, artificial and natural landmark recognition and model matching. The authors compare and analyze these different methods based on technical publications and on commercial product and patent information. Comparison is centred around the following criteria: accuracy of position and orientation measurements; equipment needed; cost; sampling rate; effective range; computational power required; processing needs; and other special features.