| Title |
Sonar-Based Certainty Grids for Autonomous Mobile Robots |
| Abstract |
This paper discribes a sonar-based certainty grid, the probabilistic representation of the uncertain and incomplete sensor knowledge, for autonomous mobile robot navigation. We use sonar sensor range data to build a map of the robot's surroundings. This range data provides information about the location of the objects which may exist in front of the sensor. From this information, we can compute the probability of being occupied and that of being empty for each cell. In this paper, a new method using Bayesian formula is introduced, which enables us to overcome some difficulties of the Ad-Hoc formula that has been the only way of updating the grids. This new formula can be applied to other kinds of sensors as well as sonar sensor. The validity of this formula in the real world is verified through simulation and experiment. This paper also shows that a wide angle sensor such as sonar sensor can be used effectively to identify the empty area, and the simultaneous use of multiple sensors and fusion in a certainty grid can improve the quality of the map. |