Gas distribution in unventilated indoor environments inspected by a mobile robot

Abstract

Gas source localisation with robots is usually performed in environments with a strong, unidirectional airflow created by artificial ventilation. This tends to create a strong, well defined analyte plume and enables upwind searching. By contrast, this paper presents experiments conducted in unventilated rooms. Here, the measured concentrations also indicate an analyte plume with, however, different properties concerning its shape, width, concentration profile and stability over time. In the results presented in this paper, two very different mobile robotic systems for odour sensing were investigated in different environments, and the similarities as well as differences in the analyte gas distributions measured are discussed.