Automatic Error Detection and Reduction for an Odometric Sensor based on Two Optical Mice

Abstract

In this paper, we present a dead reckoning sensor to support reliable odometry on mobile robots. This sensor is based on a pair of optical mice rigidly connected to the robot body and its main advantages are 1) this localization system is independent from the kinematics of the robot, 2) the measurement given by the mice is not subject to slipping, since they are independent from the traction wheels, nor to crawling, since they measure displacements in any direction 3) it is a low-cost solution with a precision comparable to classical shaft encoders. Since we have redundant measures it is possible to detect non-systematic errors; in this paper, an automatic procedure to reduce non-systematic errors of the sensor is presented and validated with experimental results on a real mobile robot.