Autonomous map building and smart localization of the service robot PSR

− In this paper, an autonomous map building method and an intelligent position estimation method for an indoor service robot are presented. Map building is composed of three processes: (1) environmental information gathering, (2) scan registration, and (3) grid map building. A grid map of the environment can be successfully generated using the proposed strategy. Previously [9] we proposed a localization method which is a map-matching scheme using scanned range data, without using any artificial landmarks. In this paper, an extended localization method called smart localization is presented. Smart localization includes the Petri net based discrete event control concept as well as the position estimation scheme using map matching. A mobile robot is able to act intelligently even if various real world problems arise when using discrete event control. For example, when the robot is unable to compute its position, discrete event based error handling logics are activated according to the predetermined behavioral configuration. Experimental results demonstrate the validity and feasibility of the proposed algorithm for a service robot to navigate in an office building.