Exploring unknown environments with mobile robots using SRT-Radial

Automatic model building is a fundamental task in mobile robotics. We present a method for sensor-based exploration of unknown environments by non-holonomic mobile robots. This method proceeds by building a data structure called SRT (sensor-based random tree). The SRT represents a roadmap of the explored area with an associated safe region, and estimates the free space as perceived by the robot during the exploration. The original work presents two techniques: SRT-ball and SRT-star. In this paper, we propose an alternative strategy called SRT-radial that deals with non- holonomic constraints using two alternative planners named SRT-extensive and SRT-goal. We present experimental results to show the performance of the SRT-radial and both planners.