Mar 2 2011
Researchers from UPM’s Facultad de Informática and the European Centre for Soft Computing have devised a new technique called antonym-based technique for building maps to improve navigation of mobile robots.
One major advantage of implementing this technique would be to process lower volumes of data using the low-cost ultrasonic sensors built into the robotic platform.
Map building is major capability offered by autonomous mobile robots. An autonomous mobile robot is capable of exploring various factors of an unknown environment such as enclosure, plant, buildings and drawing up a map of the environment. Unmanned robots, with its sensors, can also recognize danger and recover from it almost immediately. The implementation of autonomous mobile robot solves the challenges of robots colliding or getting lost and they get back to their normal position soon.
The robot estimates the location of the obstacles on the map after the image capture. The map designed by the unmanned robots is not very accurate because the robot’s location at any given time cannot be determined precisely and the obstacles cannot be viewed properly from all robotic positions.
The robot classifies spaces into two types: contradictory spaces and unexplored spaces. Robots navigate carefully through the contradictory spaces because the data about these spaces are confusing and explore the unexplored spaces. This technique has opened major opportunities for improving the present navigation systems for robots.
Source: http://www.fi.upm.es/