Mobile robot map making using sonar

Abstract This article describes a method of producing high‐resolution maps of an indoor environment with an autonomous mobile robot equipped with sonar range‐finding sensors. This method is based on investigating obstacles in the near vicinity of a mobile robot. The mobile robot examines the straight line segments extracted from the sonar range data describing obstacles near the robot. The mobile robot then moves parallel to the straight line sonar segments, in close proximity to the obstacles, continually applying sonar barrier test. The sonar barrier test exploits the physical constraints of sonar data, and eliminates noisy data. This test determines whether or not a sonar line segment is a true obstacle edge or a false reflection. Low resolution sonar sensors can be used with the method described. The performance of the algorithm is demonstrated using a Denning Corp. Mobile Robot, equipped with a ring of Polaroid Corp. Ultrasonic Rangefinders.