Waypoint Navigation System based on Aerial Photograph and Electronic Map in Outdoor Environment

Abstract

The basic objective of an autonomous mobile robot is to navigate to its destination while avoiding obstacles. In general, it is advantageous to travel the shortest distance to the destination, but in the real world, there are points that need to be bypassed and courses that can be taken to the destination more safely. Therefore, by assigning waypoints in advance, it is possible to navigate more safely to the destination, and this method is called waypoint navigation. To perform waypoint navigation, a map is required to determine the exact distance and direction to the destination and waypoints, as well as the area where waypoints can be located. However, this method can consume a lot of time and cannot handle unknown environments for which sensor data has not been obtained in advance. In this paper, we describe a novel waypoint navigation system for mobile robots that uses electronic maps and aerial photographs that are easily available in advance. To validate the proposed system, actual electronic maps and aerial photographs were used to generate maps suitable for mobile robot navigation. In addition, a manual and automatic waypoint generation system was developed to generate waypoints for different applications. Based on the generated maps and waypoints, the mobile robot was able to perform waypoint navigation in a real outdoor environment.