Mapping¶

• Mapping Guide

Goals¶

• For Meeting of the Minds (MoM)
  • Five robots cooperatively gather data
  • Server analyzes data and constructs a single map
  • Server is able to direct a different robot through an environment of obstacles
• Short Term (next 1-2 weeks)
  • Fix encoders
  • Research Robotic Operating System (ROS)
  • Develop multi-robot-behavior

Multi-Robot 4-9-2009 meeting¶

• smart-run-around for now
• possible use of wall following to map faster
• ignore differentiating robots and obstacles for now

Multi-Robot Behavior Brainstorming¶

• People to work on this: Abe, Brad, David
• David's ideas: see bottom of page (Multiple Robot Behavior)
• Adapt smart-run-around behavior
  • Make it more intelligent?: better coverage, circle obstacles, etc...
• Differentiate between obstacles and other robots (use BOM)
  • If there is a range reading in the same direction as a BOM flash (doesn't have to be max bom), disregard the reading
  • This would be equivalent to replacing the data in the packet with a -1 reading
  • Probably have to check the sensor matrix for this, because we care about more than just the last BOM reading
• Potential problem: odometry/encoders assumes starting position of (0,0)
  • If matlab can stitch together maps regardless of position, then this might not matter
  • Need to talk to Justin about this
    *Want a high level robot tracker to orient the robots maps with BOM data
    *Possibly use correlation to align maps (limit to robots that can see each other).
  • For testing, just start robots in the same position/direction one after another
• Multiple rows of data per packet.

• TODO:
  • Get smart-run-around working on a single robot gathering mapping data
  • Add more robots

Meeting Minutes from 11/11/2008¶

• Mapping update Meeting
  • work in trunk/code/projects/mapping
  • Robot:
    • driving, gathering encoder/range data
    • sending data to server over wireless
      • need to test frequency of sending packets
  • Server:
    • sending driving commands
    • receiving data, output to file for MATLAB input
      • space-separated values: x y theta IR1 IR2 IR3 IR4 IR5
    • odometry on robots

• Multiple Robot Behavior:
  • Desired Properties
    • Overlapping maps
    • Shared origin
      • robots must know where they are in relation to each other to get this
  • Actual Behavior
    • make BOM contact with another robot
      • estimated distance reading would help
    • try to follow another robot
      • could parallel path but moved over slightly to give a wider view while also corroborating data
      • then treat as leader/follower in actions
      • get groups to link up with each other and then separate to establish meeting point between maps
  • Shortcuts
    • one solution to the 'master origin' problem for multiple robots is to start each robot at the same point with the same orientation
      • this isn't very useful and takes effort, but it works
    • could also establish an initial offset in robots, but accurate initial placement would still be an issue