On the Technology of Acoustic Utility. Acoustic Information and Energy. Navigation System for an Indoor Mobile Robot by Active Ultrasonic Beacons.

Abstract

The navigation method of an indoor mobile robot by active ultrasonic beacons is proposed. 2 receivers on a robot measures the time-of-flight of the ultrasonic pulses from 2 beacons on a ceiling to estimate the robot's 2 D position. This is reliable and safe localization system which can be used in human-robot coexisting environment. Since the distances from only 1 beacon can be detected at once, position should be estimated with robot's movement in a measurement interval during navigation. A moving robot should select the pair of beacons used for position estimation among many available beacons. Detection of wrong position sometimes occurs due to the interruption of ultra-sonic pulses by obstacles and humans in the real environment. For solving these problems, the dynamic position estimation, the selection of beacon pair according to position accuracy, and reliable navigation method with dead-reckoning in the real environment are discussed.