Determining positions and distances using collaborative robots

Abstract

This paper addresses the problem of accurate position estimation in both indoor and outdoor environments. It investigates the use of relative positioning using multiple robots to determine whether local landmarks can produce accurate results in unknown environments that lack external data such as maps or GPS. Specifically, it uses 2D barcodes as fiducials on mobile ground robots, observed by an aerial robot, to provide information such as altitude and pose to the aircraft's navigation stack and to control the motion of the ground robots. The accuracy of this approach is assessed and its potential for use in unknown, hazardous environments discussed.