Rescue robot under disaster situation: position acquisition with Omni-directional Sensor

Abstract

This paper proposes a network system and an algorithm for a rescue robot to obtain its position under collapsed area. The network system consists of communication tags put dynamically by the rescue robot in its rescue activities. According to the temporary tags, the system constructs temporary communication infrastructure and obtains geometrical information of the area. In particular, to get the position of the rescue robot, our algorithm employs "angle" obtained from Omni-directional Sensor mounted on the communication tag. The use of the "angle" information leads a significant decrease in the error in estimating tags' location. In this paper, the feasibility of our system and algorithm is confirmed with the simulation.