Calibration and planning techniques for mobile robots in industrial environments

Purpose – This paper aims to provide a simple and cheap calibration method to improve the odometry accuracy and to present an alternative method for the control of the path produced by an already existed path planning method. Design/methodology/approach – Through the integration of systematic odometry errors the robot’s odometry parameters are estimated and through the replacement of a caster with an omniwheel the unmodeled sources of odometry errors are removed. The control of the paths shape is achieved through the definition of intermediate points and robots velocity at these points. Findings – The paper finds that the odometry calibration method improves significantly odometry accuracy. Caster and omniwheel performance depends on the paths characteristics and on their quality. The use of intermediate points offers a very good control on the paths’ shape. Research limitations/implications – The paper encourages the manufacturers of casters and omniwheels to improve their quality. The described path planning method inevitably halts the robot at certain points. Further research must be done to avoid this drawback. Practical implications – Odometry calibration has become a simple procedure and can be easily implemented by robot manufacturers or researchers to improve odometry accuracy. Originality/value – The odometry calibration method significantly reduces systematic odometry errors and makes odometry reliable apart from cheap. The influence of caster and omniwheel to odometry is examined along with the influence of better controlled path shape.