Redundant Sensors for Mobile Robot Navigation

Redundant sensors are needed on a mobile robot so that the accuracy with which it perceives its surroundings can be increased. Sonar and infrared sensors are used here in tandem, each compensating for deficiencies in the other. The robot combines the data from both sensors to build a representation which is more accurate than if either sensor were used alone. Another representation, the curvature primal sketch, is extracted from this perceived workspace and is used as the input to two path planning programs: one based on configuration space and one based on a generalized cone formulation of free space.