Auditory Occupancy Grids with a Mobile Robot

This paper presents the use of auditory occupancy grids (AOGs) for mapping of a mobile robot’s acoustic environment. An AOG is a probabilistic map of sound source locations built from multiple measurements using techniques from both probabilistic robotics and sound localization. The mapping is simulated, tested for robustness, and then successfully implemented on a threemicrophone mobile robot with four sound sources. Using the robot’s inherent advantage of mobility, the AOG correctly locates the sound sources from only nine measurements. The resulting map is then used to intelligently position the robot within the environment and to maintain auditory contact with a moving target.