Position estimation of a mobile robot using optical fiber gyroscope (OFG)

Recognition of the actual position is very important for a mobile robot to move around in its environment. The most common method of position estimation is dead reckoning usually achieved by integrating wheel rotation along the path. This method, however, has a serious problem that the estimation errors are accumulated. In this paper we propose using an optical fiber gyroscope (OFG) combined with the information provided by the wheel encoders to improve the accuracy of position estimation. The formulation using a Kalman filter to combine the information of the encoders with that of the OFG is described. The simulation results and the experimental results show the effectiveness of the proposed method