Environmental Mapping by a HERO-1 Robot Using Sonar and a Laser Barcode Scanner

摘要

The first step in the development of a system to automatically fuel and service aircraft was accomplished. A HERO-1 robot was augmented with ultrasonic sonar and a laser barcode scanner to enable it to rove about and map its environment. Rover software consists of a few simple routines that, when used together, give the rover surprisingly complex behavior. The rover avoids all obstacles while looking for landmarks which enable it to generate a sonar map of its environment stored in memory. Steps for follow on work using a stationary computer as either a peripheral for the rover or as the main controller for the system were taken. In the course of this work, numerous modifications were made to the HERO-1. The memory was expanded from 4K bytes to 36K bytes. Two sonar systems (one for object detection the other for mapping) using Polaroid transducers and associated control circuitry were added. An RS-232 port to enable more efficient communication between the rover and any peripheral was included. Finally, an Instaread IR-1 Laser Barcode Scanner was installed, enabling the rover to locate designated objects at a range of up to five feet without the cost and time inefficiency of a full vision system. The results include a sonar map of a test environment made by the rover. (Author)