Robot localization denotes the robot's ability to establish its own position and orientation within the

frame of reference In physics and astronomy, a frame of reference (or reference frame) is an abstract coordinate system whose origin, orientation, and scale are specified by a set of reference points― geometric points whose position is identified both math ...

Path planning Motion planning, also path planning (also known as the navigation problem or the piano mover's problem) is a computational problem to find a sequence of valid configurations that moves the object from the source to destination. The term is used ...

is effectively an extension of localisation, in that it requires the determination of the robot's current position and a position of a goal location, both within the same frame of reference or coordinates. Map building can be in the shape of a metric map or any notation describing locations in the robot frame of reference. For any mobile device, the ability to navigate in its environment is important. Avoiding dangerous situations such as collisions and unsafe conditions (

temperature Temperature is a physical quantity that expresses quantitatively the perceptions of hotness and coldness. Temperature is measured with a thermometer. Thermometers are calibrated in various temperature scales that historically have relied o ...

, radiation, exposure to weather, etc.) comes first, but if the robot has a purpose that relates to specific places in the robot environment, it must find those places. This article will present an overview of the skill of navigation and try to identify the basic blocks of a robot

navigation system A navigation system is a computing system that aids in navigation. Navigation systems may be entirely on board the vehicle or vessel that the system is controlling (for example, on the ship's bridge) or located elsewhere, making use of radio or othe ...

, types of navigation systems, and closer look at its related building components. Robot navigation means the robot's ability to determine its own position in its

and then to plan a path towards some goal location. In order to navigate in its environment, the robot or any other mobility device requires representation, i.e. a map of the environment and the ability to ''interpret'' that representation. Navigation can be defined as the combination of the three fundamental competences: # Self-localisation #

# Map-building and map interpretation Some robot navigation systems use simultaneous localization and mapping to generate

3D reconstruction In computer vision and computer graphics, 3D reconstruction is the process of capturing the shape and appearance of real objects. This process can be accomplished either by active or passive methods. If the model is allowed to change its shape ...

s of their surroundings.

Vision-based navigation

Vision-based navigation or optical navigation uses

computer vision Computer vision is an interdisciplinary scientific field that deals with how computers can gain high-level understanding from digital images or videos. From the perspective of engineering, it seeks to understand and automate tasks that the human ...

algorithms and optical sensors, including laser-based range finder and photometric cameras using CCD arrays, to extract the visual features required to the localization in the surrounding environment. However, there are a range of techniques for navigation and localization using vision information, the main components of each technique are: * representations of the environment. * sensing models. * localization algorithms. In order to give an overview of vision-based navigation and its techniques, we classify these techniques under indoor navigation and outdoor navigation.

Indoor navigation

The easiest way of making a robot go to a goal location is simply to ''guide'' it to this location. This guidance can be done in different ways: burying an inductive loop or magnets in the floor, painting lines on the floor, or by placing beacons, markers, bar codes etc. in the environment. Such ''Automated Guided Vehicles'' (AGVs) are used in industrial scenarios for transportation tasks. Indoor Navigation of Robots are possible by IMU based indoor positioning devices. There are a very wider variety of indoor navigation systems. The basic reference of indoor and outdoor navigation systems i
"Vision for mobile robot navigation: a survey"
by Guilherme N. DeSouza and Avinash C. Kak. Also se
"Vision based positioning"
and

AVM Navigator AVM Navigator is an additional module of the RoboRealm ( plugin) that provides object recognition and autonomous robot navigation using a single video camera on the robot as the main sensor for navigation. Associative Video Memory It is possible ...

Autonomous Flight Controllers

Typical Open Source Autonomous Flight Controllers have the ability to fly in full automatic mode and perform the following operations; * Take off from the ground and fly to a defined altitude * Fly to one or more waypoints * Orbit around a designated point * Return to the launch position * Descend at a specified speed and land the aircraft The onboard flight controller relies on GPS for navigation and stabilized flight, and often employ additional

Satellite-based augmentation system Augmentation of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS) is a method of improving the navigation system's attributes, such as precision, reliability, and availability, through the integration of external information into the calculation process. ...

s (SBAS) and altitude (barometric pressure) sensor.

Inertial navigation

Some navigation systems for airborne robots are based on

inertial sensor An inertial measurement unit (IMU) is an electronic device that measures and reports a body's specific force, angular rate, and sometimes the orientation of the body, using a combination of accelerometers, gyroscopes, and sometimes magnetomete ...

Acoustic navigation

Autonomous underwater vehicle An autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is a robot that travels underwater without requiring input from an operator. AUVs constitute part of a larger group of undersea systems known as unmanned underwater vehicles, a classification that includ ...

s can be guided by

underwater acoustic positioning system An underwater acoustic positioning system is a system for the tracking and navigation of underwater vehicles or divers by means of acoustic distance and/or direction measurements, and subsequent position triangulation. Underwater acoustic position ...

s. Navigation systems using

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances (ranging), communicate with or detect objects on o ...

have also been developed.

Radio navigation

Robots can also determine their positions using

radio navigation Radio navigation or radionavigation is the application of radio frequencies to determine a position of an object on the Earth, either the vessel or an obstruction. Like radiolocation, it is a type of radiodetermination. The basic principles a ...

References

External links

line tracking sensors for robots and its algorithms
{{Robotics