A smart interface-unit for the integration of pre-processed laser range measurements into robotic systems and sensor networks

In this paper we propose a novel method of connecting laser range finders to a service robot or to an arbitrary sensor network. The developed unit can be connected to two laser range finders and provides a standard Ethernet port. Autonomous computing power enables the unit to carry out data manipulation tasks. Every device in the network will be able to access both the raw measurement data and pre- processed measurements calculated by the smart interface unit. The paper will discuss the technical aspects of the developed unit as well as the implemented novel processing algorithms. These algorithms are specific to tasks many service robots have to carry out. We present a use case where the developed unit has been applied successfully.