Position referencing and consistent world modeling for mobile robots

I n o r d e r t o u n d e r s t a n d i t s e n v i r o n m e n t , a m o b i l e r o b o t s h o u l d b e a b l e t o m o d e l c o n s i s t e n t l y t h i s e n v i r o n m e n t , a n d t o l o c a t e i t s e l f c o r r e c t l y. One m a j o r d i f f i c u l t y t o b e s o l v e d is t h e i n a c c u r a c i e s introduced by the sensors. The approach proposed in t h i s p a p e r t o c o p e w i t h u n c e r t a i n t i e s : t h e u s e o f a m u l t i s e n s o r y s y s t e m , f a v o r i n g o f t h e d a t a c o l l e c t e d b y t h e more a c c u r a t e s e n s o r i n a g i v e n s i t u a t i o n , a v e r a g i n g o f d i f f e r e n t b u t c o n s i s t e n t measurements of the same e n t i t y w e i g h t e d w i t h t h e i r a s s o c i a t e d u n c e r t a i n t i e s , a n d 2) One o f t h e s p e c i f i c c h a r …