Wireless sensory control for mobile robot navigation

Abstract

Autonomous navigation is an important problem in mobile robotics. Various solutions have been proposed part of them being sensor based. The use of the sensors offers flexibility and adaptability to the robot but has also disadvantages: it may need powerful processing units, mounted on the robot and it is difficult to represent correctly and in all details the environment and the position of the robot due to errors in the data collected by the sensors. This paper presents a wireless sensory control for mobile robot navigation. The Cricket family of sensors and the X80 wheeled robot from DrRobot were used. The processing needs for computing the robot's trajectory were moved at the PC level. A sensor controls the navigation of the robot. It is wirelessly connected to a similar sensor attached to a PC. The PC commands the robot, being informed about its position and motion by other wireless sensors. The software was developed at sensors, robot and PC levels.