Variable Capture-Angle Sampling for Chemical Plume Tracing by an Autonomous Mobile Robot

Abstract

In this study, we proposed a variable capture-angle sampling system for a chemical plume tracing (CPT) robot. We hypothesized that the desirable spatial resolution for information on chemical distribution is case specific. We designed a variable capture-angle sampling system and incorporated into an autonomous mobile robot. We also proposed a heuristic control of the angle during CPT. Through verifications carried out using ethanol as the target chemical, we demonstrated the variable capture-angle sampling ability of the proposed system. We also conducted CPT experiments with heuristic control where the capture angle of the system changed according to chemical sensing intervals. The results indicated that the proposed system potentially improves the efficiency of CPT by an autonomous individual robot.