Exploration and search in unknown open environments with a mobile robot

An a priori map is often unavailable for a mobile robot in an unknown environment. In large spaces, relying on a tele-operated guidance to create a map of the environment will result in a huge and inefficient workload. Thus, an autonomous exploration algorithm is required for a mobile robot to complete the exploration. The work proposes an autonomous exploration and mapping method for a tracked-robot based on the information gained from a LiDAR sensor, the motion cost, and a grid map that represents the built map for navigation and localization. The project is created from scratch, that means that some previous work has to be done before implementing and testing the algorithm on the robot. The previous work carries out a simultaneous localization and mapping while searching for interesting objects that may modify the navigation of the robot, the navigation planner that generates trajectories for the robot and the kinematic model of the tracked-robot. Once all those steps are implemented, the experiments can be done on the real robot, and the exploration strategy is tested both in the real robot and in the simulator. All the project has been implemented using ROS. Section 2 gives a brief introduction of the history of tracked robots, SLAM and autonomous exploration. Then, Section 3 covers the SLAM approach used in the project, how to parametrize it in ROS and the detection and localization of stairs and holes in the map. After that, Section 4 introduces the autonomous exploration strategy used and the algorithms used to compute the set of goals required for an efficient and optimized exploration. Section 5 explains how the global and local planners are implemented and the costmap layers. Hardware and Software required for making everything work is presented in Section 6 and 7 respectively. Here the tracked robot and the sensors used are presented, as well as the kinematic and control models for the robot and the simulator used for the different maps tested. Finally, Sections 8, 10 and 10 explains the different problems the project had to deal with, and the experiments run in the real robot and the simulator. Once the results are presented, conclusions are commented.Objectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::9 - Indústria, Innovació i Infraestructur