Abstract
This paper proposes and implements a lightweight, “real-time” localization system (SORLA) with artificial landmarks (reflectors), which only uses LiDAR data for the laser odometer compensation in the case of high-speed or sharp-turning. Theoretically, due to the feature-matching mechanism of the LiDAR, locations of multiple reflectors and the reflector layout are not limited by geometrical relation. A series of algorithms is implemented to find and track the features of the environment, such as the reflector localization method, the motion compensation technique, and the reflector matching optimization algorithm. The reflector extraction algorithm is used to identify the reflector candidates and estimates the precise center locations of the reflectors from 2D LiDAR data. The motion compensation algorithm predicts the potential velocity, location, and angle of the robot without odometer errors. Finally, the matching optimization algorithm searches the reflector combinations for the best matching score, which ensures that the correct reflector combination could be found during the high-speed movement and fast turning. All those mechanisms guarantee the algorithm’s precision and robustness in the high speed and noisy background. Our experimental results show that the SORLA algorithm has an average localization error of 6.45 mm at a speed of 0.4 m/s, and 9.87 mm at 4.2 m/s, and still works well with the angular velocity of 1.4 rad/s at a sharp turn. The recovery mechanism in the algorithm could handle the failure cases of reflector occlusion, and the long-term stability test of 72 h firmly proves the algorithm’s robustness. This work shows that the strategy used in the SORLA algorithm is feasible for industry-level navigation with high precision and a promising alternative solution for SLAM.
Highlights
Autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) can significantly release manpower from heavy fetching tasks and boost efficiency and avoid human error from repeatable operations [1].In particular, with the development of LiDAR-based navigation techniques, mobile robots could be located in “real time” in complex environments, and accurate localization is highly desired to ensure the performance and safety of autonomous mobile robots [2,3].Navigation technology is one of the fundamentals in the field of automation and robotics.Lots of research activities and industry applications are conducted with Laser SLAM, inertial navigation, magnetic tapes, and Visual-SLAM techniques
Another approach is the LiDAR-based localization technique assisted with artificial landmarks, which refers to the cylindrical reflectors in this study
We propose a “light-weight” reflector localization algorithm (SORLA)
Summary
Sen Wang 1 , Xiaohe Chen 2 , Guanyu Ding 3 , Yongyao Li 1 , Wenchang Xu 2 , Qinglei Zhao 4 , Yan Gong 2 and Qi Song 2,3, *.
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