Minimal qualitative topologic world models for mobile robot

Abstract

World models for mobile robots as introduced in many projects, are mostly redundant regarding similar situations detected in different places. The present paper proposes a method for dynamic generation of a minimal world model based on these redundancies. The technique is an extention of the qualitative topologic world modelling methods. As a central aspect the reliability regarding error-tolerance and stability is emphasized. The proposed technique demands very low constraints on the kind and quality of the employed sensors as well as for the kinematic precision of the utilized mobile platform. Hard real-time constraints can be handled due to the low computational complexity. The principal discussions are supported by real-world experiments with the mobile robot "ALICE".