Odor Source Localization with Mobile Robots

Abstract

Because of their excellent olfactory sense, dogs are often used to find bombs, mines, drugs, or people buried by avalanches. For such applications, autonomous mobile robots could be used in the future. Electronic sensors already exist for a wide variety of substances, and are still being actively researched. Mobile robots are an important area of research, too. But beyond a good sensor and a suitable robotic platform, a third component is required: odor source localization algorithms – and due to the complex propagation of odor molecules in the air, tracking down odor sources is still a big challenge. The sense of smell is very important for many animals. Olfaction is used for scavenging and inspection, mating, recognition, hunting, and avoiding predators. Humans also use smells in their daily lives, though their senses are much less acute than those of dogs or rats [1]. Largely due to this special ability, these animals are often used in search and rescue operations, at airports or border controls to search for drugs or explosives, and for humanitarian de-mining. In mobile robotics, olfaction has not yet been widely used. Recently, however, many