Development of Autonomous Robot with Simple Navigation System for Tsukuba Challenge 2015

Abstract

This paper introduces the robot that was developed for Tsukuba Challenge 2015. One of the team’s design goals was to implement a simple sensor configuration and control algorithm. For example, the robot’s laser range finders (LRF) were of fixed type, and localization was accomplished using only a single LRF and no other sensor. Environment map matching was achieved using an algorithm that processed pyramid images using binary image processing to reduce computational cost. Shape information from the LRF and color information from a camera were combined to detect a signboard placed near a person. During an actual test in rainy weather, the robot ran the entire course and, detected two, out of a possible four, number of target persons.