Table of Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Perface to the Second Edition xiii
1 Overview and Motivation 1
1.1 From Mechanisms to Computation 4
1.2 Historical Context 5
1.3 Biological Inspiration 11
1.4 Operational Regimes 11
1.5 Operational Modes 11
1.6 A Guide to This Book 12
1.7 Further Reading 13
1.8 Problems 16
2 Fundamental Problems 18
2.1 Path Planning for a Point Robot 19
2.2 Localization for a Point Robot 21
2.3 Sensing for a Point Robot 23
2.4 Mapping for a Point Robot 25
2.5 SLAM for a Point Robot 25
2.6 Looking Forward 26
2.7 Further Reading 27
2.8 Problems 27
Part 1 Locomotion and Perception 29
3 Mobile Robot Hardware 31
3.1 Locomotion 31
3.2 Off-Board Communication 71
3.3 Processing 75
3.4 Further Reading 76
3.5 Problems 77
4 Non-Visual Sensors and Algorithms 82
4.1 Basic Concepts 82
4.2 Contact Sensors: Bumpers 86
4.3 Inertial Sensors 87
4.4 Infrared Sensors 90
4.5 Sonar 91
4.6 Radar 98
4.7 Laser Rangefinders 98
4.8 Satellite-Based Positioning 100
4.9 Data Fusion 102
4.10 Biological Sensing 118
4.11 Further Reading 120
4.12 Problems 121
5 Visual Sensors and Algorithms 123
5.1 Visual Sensors 124
5.2 Object Appearance and Shading 131
5.3 Signals and Sampling 132
5.4 Image Features and Their Combination 134
5.5 Obtaining Depth 149
5.6 Active Vision 155
5.7 Other Sensors 158
5.8 Biological Vision 162
5.9 Further Reading 163
5.10 Problems 164
Part 2 Representation and Planning 165
6 Representing and Reasoning About Space 167
6.1 Representing Space 167
6.2 Representing the Robot 176
6.3 Path Planning for Mobile Robots 179
6.4 Planning for Multiple Robots 208
6.5 Biological Mapping 209
6.6 Further Reading 210
6.7 Problems 210
7 System Control 212
7.1 Horizontal Decomposition 213
7.2 Vertical Decomposition 217
7.3 Hybrid Control Architectures 223
7.4 Middleware 226
7.5 High-Level Control 226
7.6 Alternative Control Formalisms 230
7.7 The Human-Robot Interface 235
7.8 Mobile Robot Software Development as Experimentation 237
7.9 Standard Software Toolkits 237
7.10 Further Reading 238
7.11 Problems 239
8 Pose Maintenance and Localization 240
8.1 Simple Landmark Measurement 241
8.2 Servo Control 249
8.3 Recursive Filtering 250
8.4 Non-Geometric Methods: Perceptual Structure 260
8.5 Correlation-Based Localization 267
8.6 Global Localization 267
8.7 Biological Approaches to Localization 273
8.8 Further Reading 274
8.9 Problems 274
9 Mapping and Related Tasks 276
9.1 Sensorial Maps 278
9.2 Geometric Maps 279
9.3 Topological Maps 287
9.4 Exploration 291
9.5 Further Reading 294
9.6 Problems 294
10 Robot Collectives 295
10.1 Categorizing Collectives 296
10.2 Control Architectures 296
10.3 Collective Communication 299
10.4 Sensing 300
10.5 Planning for Action 301
10.6 Formation Control 302
10.7 Localization 303
10.8 Mapping 304
10.9 Further Reading 305
10.10 Problems 306
11 Robots in Practice 307
11.1 Delivery Robots 307
11.2 Intelligent Vehicles 309
11.3 Robots for Survey and Inspection 314
11.4 Mining Automation 316
11.5 Space Robotics 317
11.6 Autonomous Aircraft 319
11.7 Military Reconnaissance 320
11.8 Bomb/Mine Disposal 320
11.9 Underwater Inspection 322
11.10 Agriculture/Forestry 323
11.11 Aids for the Disabled 325
11.12 Entertainment 326
11.13 Domestic Robots 327
11.14 Further Reading 327
11.15 Problems 328
12 The Future of Mobile Robotics 329
12.1 Locomotion 329
12.2 Sensors 331
12.3 Control 332
12.4 System Integration 332
12.5 Standardization 333
12.6 Future Directions 333
Appendix A Probability and Statistics 335
A.1 Probability 335
A.2 Some Simple Statistics 338
A.3 Further Reading 339
A.4 Problems 339
Appendix B Linear Systems, Matrices, and Filtering 341
B.l Linear Algebra 341
B.2 Matrix Algebra 341
B.3 Signals and Systems 343
B.4 Fourier Theory 344
B.5 Sampling and the Nyquist Theorem 344
B.6 Further Reading 345
B.7 Problems 345
Appendix C Markov Models 346
C.1 Discrete Markov Process 346
C.2 Hidden Markov Models 348
C.3 Markov Decision Process 349
C.4 POMDP 350
C.5 Further Reading 351
C.6 Problems 351
Bibliography 353
Index 381