Self-localization of Autonomous Mobile Robots using Information Buried in Environment.

摘要

Generally, in the self-localization method based on positions of landmarks, it is necessary for robots to manage the maps of the landmarks. In multiple robot systems, it is, however, difficult to keep the consistency among all the maps carried by the robots when the maps are updated frequently and dynamically. In this paper, we introduce Intelligent Data Carriers (IDCs) to realize map-free self-localization in multiple robot systems. The IDC is a portable data management device developed at RIKEN. By putting an IDC in the work area and storing its own position data in itself, robots can acquire the position of the IDC using local communication without refering to any maps. Detalied procedures to acquire and integrate various information are presented. The efficiency of the proposed method are discussed based on the results of the experiments. It is confirmed that this method is available for the robot to localize its own position in multiple robot environment.