Infrared Active Beacon Application Evaluation for Mobile Robot Localization in Agriculture

Mobile robots can replace humans in variety of different tasks. Although mobile robots can perform tasks safer, quicker, more efficient, more precise etc. than human, the accurate localization system is a must for successful mobile robot operation in the working environment. According to literature mobile robots can help a lot in the agriculture industry where time consuming, tiring, routine and expensive tasks (labor salaries) are very common. Our previous research has shown that infrared technology is appropriate for mobile robot localization for specific agricultural tasks. In this paper we analyze overall infrared technology applications for mobile robot localization and we offer a novel localization system based on 1) stationary infrared active beacons and 2) rotary infrared light detection and collimation system installed on moving robot. The localization system prototype has been built during the research. The key factors determining mobile robot localization accuracy and maximum localization distance experimental evaluation has been done. The maximum localization distance for our experimental setup is approximately 20 m while active beacon detection angular accuracy is 2.89o, thus mobile robot localization error is not exceeding 7 cm and localization time is about 7 seconds.