Integrating Range and Object Data for Robot Navigation

Most sensors used for robot navigation fall into one of two broad categories: range sensors that give approximate distances to obstacles, and object-based sensors that detect and locate objects of specific types. Each type of sensor does a good job of detecting certain kinds of obstacles, but fails to detect others. A robust robot navigation system must be able to integrate data from both sources. We present an implemented system that combines information from range and object-based sensors into a single representation that is used to reliably navigate a robot through an office environment. The high level nature of the representation allows easy integration of taskspecific navigation constraints. Results are given demonstrating how the system is utilized on our mobile robot, Chip.

• Type: Conference
• Year: 1997
• Where: AGENTS
• Authors: David Franklin, R. James Firby
• Keywords: AGENTS 1997, Object-based Sensors, Robot Navigation, Security Privacy, Sensors