Title :
A system for volumetric robotic mapping of abandoned mines
Author :
Thrun, Sebastian ; Hahnel, Dirk ; Ferguson, David ; Montemerlo, Michael ; Triebel, Rudolph ; Burgard, Wolfram ; Baker, Christopher ; Omohundro, Zachary ; Thayer, Scott ; Whittaker, William
Author_Institution :
Sch. of Comput. Sci., Carnegie Mellon Univ., Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Abstract :
This paper describes two robotic systems developed for acquiring accurate volumetric maps of underground mines. One system is based on a cart instrumented by laser range finders, pushed through a mine by people. Another is a remotely controlled mobile robot equipped with laser range finders. To build consistent maps of large mines with many cycles, we describe an algorithm for estimating global correspondences and aligning robot paths. This algorithm enables us to recover consistent maps several hundreds of meters in diameter, without odometric information. We report results obtained in two mines, a research mine in Bruceton, PA, and an abandoned coal mine in Burgettstown, PA.
Keywords :
laser ranging; mining; mobile robots; path planning; remotely operated vehicles; robot vision; Bruceton mine; Burgettstown mine; abandoned coal mine; coal mine; global correspondence estimation; laser range finders; remotely controlled mobile robot; robot path alignment; robotic systems; underground mines; volumetric robotic mapping; Accidents; Computer errors; Computer science; Iterative algorithms; Laser theory; Navigation; Remotely operated vehicles; Robot sensing systems; Safety; Simultaneous localization and mapping;
Conference_Titel :
Robotics and Automation, 2003. Proceedings. ICRA '03. IEEE International Conference on
Print_ISBN :
0-7803-7736-2
DOI :
10.1109/ROBOT.2003.1242260
