2020 Volume 1 Issue 1 Pages 1-6
The proportion of elderly people in traffic accidents is increasing in Japan. It is therefore necessary to make transportation for the elderly safer by automating the electric wheelchair. Technologies that estimate the vehicle position and orientation are required to realize automated driving. One technology is simultaneous localization and mapping. This technology computes the current self-position by comparing a map and data from a sensor. The present study used the normal distributions transform algorithm for self-position estimation. The main aim of the study was to construct a three dimensional map required for self-position estimation on a sidewalk. For the evaluation of this map, self-position estimation was performed using the map and estimated distances were compared with actual distances measured, by a laser range finder. Results show a difference between the actual position and estimated position of approximately 0.05 m in the area of a sidewalk. The self position estimation on the sidewalk using the normal distributions transform was thus accurate. Future work will focus on a next-generation map that contains point data for the upper part of a building.
