Mobile robot for radiation mapping in indoor environment

Abstract

Radiation mapping is the process of measuring radiation intensity level at distributed sampling points in a predefined region of interest (ROI). This procedure is crucial in any radiological related emergency to locate contamination hotspot(s) or in routine inspections in any radiation facilities. When workers knowingly enter a high radiation zone to perform radiation mapping, they are exposed to the risk of radiation exposure. Mobile robot is a potential solution that could eliminate the health and safety risk and subsequently improve the measurement accuracy. This paper reports implementation of mobile robot for radiation mapping by using a commercial mobile robot platform, Turtlebot2 in conjunction with Robot Operating System (ROS). Mobile robot is capable to generate physical map of the targeted environment by using Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM). Simultaneously, Geiger Muller detector is utilized to perform radiation measurement. The radiation data is directly plotted on the physical map hence the radiation intensity distribution throughout the ROI could be assessed. Functionality of the radiation mapping robot is evaluated in real-world experiments and the results will be presented in the paper.