Absolute Pose Estimation of a Stair Cleaning Robot using Staircase Geometry and ToF sensors

sTetro (stair Tetris) is a stair cleaning robot which can climb the staircase autonomously with its shape-shifting capabilities. As this robot is intended to traverse multi-story buildings, hence its positioning/ localization information is an essential component of the overall system. Usually, the indoor mobile robots rely on some external system for localization information, e.g. WiFi, UWB, vision, RFID signals, or other forms of indoor pseudolites (GPS-like) system. This requires the installation of additional hardware and/or modification of the working environment for precise positioning information of a mobile platform. As the dimensions of the staircase are usually known a priori, this information can be used to localize the sTetro robot on the stairs. In this article, the geometry information of the staircase has been exploited to estimate the absolute position of the robot in 3D space with measurements from the onboard time-of-flight (ToF) range sensors only. The heading angle of the robot is also estimated with measurements from two ToF sensors installed in front of the sTetro robot. Results achieved by conducting experiments on different types of the staircase with real robot prove the efficacy of the proposed technique.

[@Jowjoejoe]

smart design! Reminds me of ant-shaped all terain vehicles

[@user-ci3ox5to5k]

Where can you buy one

[@user-lu6yg3vk9z]

Where can I buy one of these?