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Autonomous Mobile Robots Annual Report 1985

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Autonomous Mobile Robots Annual Report 1985 The Mobile Robot Laboratory Sonar Mapping, Imaging and Navigation Visual Navigation Road Following i Motion Control The Robots Motivation Publications Autonomous Mobile Robots Annual Report 1985 Mobile Robot Laboratory CM U-KI-TK-86-4 Mobile Robot Laboratory The Robotics Institute Carncgie Mcllon University Pittsburgh, Pcnnsylvania 15213 February 1985 Copyright @ 1986 Carnegie-Mellon University This rcscarch was sponsored by The Office of Naval Research, under Contract Number NO00 14-81-K-0503. 1 Table of Contents The Mobile Robot Laboratory ‘I’owards Autonomous Vchiclcs - Moravcc ct 31. 1 Sonar Mapping, Imaging and Navigation High Resolution Maps from Wide Angle Sonar - Moravec, et al. 19 A Sonar-Based Mapping and Navigation System - Elfes 25 Three-Dirncnsional Imaging with Cheap Sonar - Moravec 31 Visual Navigation Experiments and Thoughts on Visual Navigation - Thorpe et al. 35 Path Relaxation: Path Planning for a Mobile Robot - Thorpe 39 Uncertainty Handling in 3-D Stereo Navigation - Matthies 43 Road Following First Resu!ts in Robot Road Following - Wallace et al. 65 A Modified Hough Transform for Lines - Wallace 73 Progress in Robot Road Following - Wallace et al. 77 Motion Control Pulse-Width Modulation Control of Brushless DC Motors - Muir et al. 85 Kinematic Modelling of Wheeled Mobile Robots - Muir et al. 93 Dynamic Trajectories for Mobile Robots - Shin 111 The Robots The Neptune Mobile Robot - Podnar 123 The Uranus Mobile Robot, a First Look - Podnar 127 Motivation Robots that Rove - Moravec 131 Bibliography 147 ii Abstract Sincc 13s 1. (lic Mobilc I<obot IAoratory of thc Kohotics Institute 01' Crrrncfiic-Mcllon IInivcnity has conduclcd hsic rcscarcli in aTCiiS crucial fur ;iiitonomoiis robots. We havc hilt Lhrcc niohilc robots its tcstbcds for ncw conccpts in control, vision. planning, locoinotion and iii;inipul:ition. 'i'iiis rcport rccgiints our work in 1985. Includcd arc two papcrs dcscribing two-cliniension;il sonar ni:ippin~;~iicl navigation, and a proposal for ;I thrcc-dirncnsional sonar. 'tbrcc papcrs covcr rcccnt rCSUltS in stcrco visual navigation: We have achicvcd a tcnfold sl~ccdupand a tcnf'old incrcasc in navigational xcuracy ovcr our first gcncration systcm, and hnvc a much dccpcr undcrstanding of some of thc 1ti:1lh~1n;iti~iilfoundations. 'I'hrcc p'ipcrs dcscribc rcsuits in a road navigation task: We arc now ablc to navigate a simple road nctwork at walking spccds with a single color canicra on a roving robot, using a variety of image processing and navigation methods. 'l'lircc papcrs dcscribc aspccts of motion control, motors, wheclcd kincrnatics and vchiclc dynamics. 'I'wo papcrs prcscnt our ncwcst robots, Ncptunc and Uranus. A final article givcs sonic long tcini motivations and cxpcctations for mobilc robot rcscarch, and the report cnds with a bibliography of our publications. 3 1. I<I.;I'UH7' Nl~hlill~;l< 1. GOVT ACCESSION NO. MRL-86- 1 5. TYPE 01.'REI'OHT k I'EItIOIl COVERED Annual Report 1985 6. PERFORMING ORG. REPORT NUMBER 7. AUTHOR (s) 8. CONTRACT OR GRANT NUMBER (3) Hans P. Moravec, ed. N00014-81-K-0503 2. PERFORMING ORGANIZATION NAME AND ADDRESS 10. PROGRAM ELEMENT, PROJECT, TASK Carnegie-Mellon University;,Pittsburgh, PA 15213 AREA k WORK UNIT NUhlBERS Work Unit NR 610-001 1. CONTROLLING OFFICE NAME AND ADDRESS 11. REPORT DATE O5ce of Naval Research, Dr. Alan R. Meyrowitz, Code 433, 800 January 30, 1986 Quincy Arlington, 22217 N. St., VA 13. NUMBER OF PAGES 165 4. MONITORING AGENCY NAME k ADDRESS (if different form Controlling Ofice) 15. SECURITY CLASS. (of this report) Unclassified 158. DECLASSIFICATION/DOWNGRADlNG SCHEDULE None .6. DISTRIBUTION STATEMENT (of this Report) Unlimited 17. DISTIBUTION STATEMENT (of the obstract entered in Block ell; ij different from Report) Unlimited 8. SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES 19. KEY WORDS (Continue on reverse side if neccssory and identify by block number) Mobile Robots, Vision, Stereo, Sonar, Navigation, Mapping, Path Planning, Uncertainty Handling, Road FoUowing, Motion Control, Dynamic Control, Planning, Artificial Intelligence 0. ABSTRACT (Continue on reverse side if neccssory and identify by block number) Since 1981 the Mobile Robot laboratory of the Robotics Institute of Carnegie-Mellon University has con- ducted basic research in areas crucial for autonomous robots. We have built three mobile robots as testbeds for new concepts in control, vision, planning, locomotion and manipulation. This report recounts our work in 1985. Included are two papers describing two-dimensional sonar mapping and navigation, and a pro- posal for a three dimensional sonar. Three papers cover recent results in stereo visual navigation - we have achieved a tenfold speedup and a tenfold increase in navigational accuracy over our first generation system, and have a much deeper understanding of some of the mathematical foundations. (continued on teveme ddc) ~~~ DD l::i73 1473 EDITIONOF I NOV 66 1s OBSOLETE Unclaszlified SIN 0102-014-eeo1 SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE (When Doto Entered) 7 Jnclassified Sl~:CL:l<l'rY CI,ASSII~ICATIONOI' 'rills 1'AC:E (When Doto Entered) (cihutrnet contd.) Thrw papers dcscribc resiilt,s in a road navigation task - we are now ablr to navigatc ii siinplo road net,work at walking speeds with a single color camera on a roving robot using a variety of iniagc processing arid navigiitiorl methods. Three papers describe aspects of motion control, motors, whaelcd kinematics and vehicle dynamics. Two papers present our newest robots, Neptune and Uranus. A final article gives some long term motivations and expectations for mobile robot research, and the report ends with a bibliography of our publications. _I Unclassified SECURITY CLASSIFICATION OF THIS PAGE (When Data Entered) 1 Towards Autonomous Vehicles The Mobile Robot Laboratory Staff Introduction Overview The CMU Mobile Robot Lab was started in 1981 to pursue Our main subprojects pertain to vehicles, manipulators, servo research in perception, planning and control for autonomously control, stereo, sonar, and distributed processing. We will dis- roving robots. The short and long range practical applications cuss each of these briefly before launching into the details. of robot mobility aside, we think our work directly addresses the Our long term plans call for an accurate, very maneuverable, problem of building a generally intelligent machine. Among self-powered vehicle carrying a small manipulator. Pluto living things, only mobile organisms exhibit the sensory and (generically the CMU Rover) was designed to meet these behavioral characteristics that are the basis of our own intelli- requirements. Among its several innovations was an omnidirec- gence. A roving entity encounters a wide variety of circum- tional drive system for accurate control of robot motion in three stances, and must perceive and respond with great generality to independent degrees of freedom (forwardhackward, lefvright, function effectively. We feel our research makes discoveries that and rotation). Our design used three complex wheel assemblies, parallel the evolution of intelligence in mobile animals. The each with two motors to independently drive and steer its own selection function in both cases is the same-the effective func- wheel. Coordinated control of the six motors was a more diffi- tioning of a physical mobile entity in a varied and uncertain cult problem than we had anticipated, and is now being attacked world. We think this experimentally guided bottom up approach as a research problem in its own right. can find some solutions, such as the secret of effective common sense reasoning, more effectively than the seemingly direct For the sake of the vision and navigation research we constructed traditional top down approach to artificial intelligence. a much simpler second vehicle, Neptune. Power and control information come via a tether. Two synchronous AC motors Our first funding came from an Office of Naval Research con- steer and drive the robot, switched by a single onboard processor. tract to develop land-based technology for eventual application Equipped with two vidicon cameras and a ring of sonar range to autonomous underwater robots. The subprojects were design finders, Neptune is robust and has been used in visual and and construction of highly maneuverable vehicles, develop- sonar mapping, navigation and obstacle avoidance experiments. ment of stereo and sonar vision algorithms, and algorithms There are several other hardware efforts in progress. We are for path planning and higher level control. New developments building a third vehicle, Uranus, with a new, more easily con- were to be demonstrated in working systems that performed trolled omnidirectional drive system to carry on the longer various tasks. range work stalled in Pluto. We are working on a special-purpose manipulator for grasping doorknobs and have nearly com- We chose two tasks, one simple and one complex. In the first, pleted a video digitizer/display that shares memory with a VAX. the vehicle was to travel to a goal location specified relative to its In addition, we are exploring processor and digitizer configura- starting point, avoiding obstacles en route. This would encour- tions for use on board the vehicles. age efforts in stereo, sonar, path planning, and vision-based Pluto has been the center of our work on servo control. To vehicle motion estimation. The second task-finding, opening, control the motion of Pluto, we successfully designed and and passing through doorways-was to serve as a longer term implemented an independent
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